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ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 
JOHN T. FARIS 



■ f 



Of the progress of the souls of men 

And women along the grand roads of the universe. 

All other progress is the needed emblem and sustenance. 

Forever alive, forever forward, 

Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawing, 
Baffled, mad turbulent, feeble, dissatisfied. 
Desperate, proud, fond, sick, accepted by men, 
Rejected by men. 
They go! they go! 

— Walt Whitman. 



ON THE TRAIL OF THE 
PIONEERS 

ROMANCE, TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH 
OF THE PATH OF EMPIRE 

BY 

JOHN T. FARIS 

AUTHOR OF "real stories FROM OUR 

HISTORY," "old roads OUT OF 

PHILADELPHIA," "HISTORIC 

SHRINES OF AMERICA," 

ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED 




NEW >iSJr YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 






COPYRIGHT, 1920, 
BY GEORGE H. DOR-\N COMPANY 



APk 21 iS20 



PRINTED IX THE UKITED STATES OF AMERICA 



(g)CI.A565612 



PREFACE 

It is not the purpose of this volume to give in full detail 
the historical background of the successive great move- 
ments of population from the East to the country West of 
the Alleghenies; this ground has been covered by authors 
whose exhaustive books are named in the Bibliography. 

"On the Trail of the Pioneers" gives glimpses of many 
of tliese great movements, the routes the emigrants took, 
and the sections to which they went. The endeavor is made 
to answer the questions, Who were tlie emigrants? How 
an^ where did they travel? What adventures did they 
have by the way? What were their impressions of the 
country through which they passed? What did they do 
when they reached their destinations? The book has been 
written because the author felt the need of which Claude S. 
Larzelere. in a paper on The Teaching of Michigan His- 
tory, wrote: 

We talk much in general terms in our American History 
classes about the westward movement of population. All 
too seldom do we take actual typical cases of^ emigrants 
moving to the \\'est by way of the Erie Canal and the Great 
Lakes, by the Cumberland Road and the Ohio River, or by 
other roads, bringing out the actual life on the road. 

The graphic pictures of the struggles of actual emigrants 
emphasize as nothing else can the words of the author of 
A Journey on the Mississippi River: 

The West is now a phrase of somewhat indefinite 
significance. Not verj- long ago it meant Pittsburgh. . . . 
Fift)- years since,^ Cincinnati was on the verge of the white 

* Written in 1847. 

V 



vi PREFACE 

settlements. ... Go to St. Louis . . . and you seem to be 
still as far from this point of the compass as you were at the 
beginning of your journey. Ask, as I have done, the 
emigrant who is trudging his weary course across the plains 
more than two hundred miles from the city of Laclede 
where he is going; his reply is, "To the West." . . . And 
now, at the northern pass of the Rocky Mountains, near the 
49th parallel, and at the southern pass in the same range, 
leading to California, the same response, the West, the ever- 
lasting West, meets the ear. 

It is interesting to note not only how this resistless on- 
rush of the pioneers gave answer to the prophecies of 
pessimists who declared that it was useless to think of 
peopling the West from the East, but also how the emigra- 
tion brought about changes in the boundaries and names 
of new states which optimistic travelers and statesmen 
tried to forecast. There were those who once looked for 
the organization of such states as Cumberland and Transyl- 
vania in the region south of the Ohio river; but the over- 
whelming growth of the country led to the early organiza- 
tion of the single state of Kentucky. Thomas Jefferson 
was a member of a committee which, in 1784, recom- 
mended the division of the country north of the Ohio into 
states to be called Sylvania, Michigania, Chersonese, 
Metropotamia, Illinoisa, Saratoga, Washington, Polypo- 
tamia and Pelisipia, but in consequence of the emigrant tide 
through the Pittsburgh and Buffalo gateways and down the 
Ohio, the boundaries and, in most cases, the names of the 
states became quite different. 

The fascinating story of the movements that improved 
on the plan of Jefferson's committee, and went a long way 
to justify the hyperbole of Jean Pierre Brissot de Warville, 
"You will see independent America contemplating no other 
limits but those of the universe," is sketched in this volume. 

Full use has been made of the records of early travelers 
and pioneers which are described in the Bibliography. 
Grateful acknowledgment is made for the use of copy- 



PREFACE vii 

righted material to Houghton Mifflin Company, pubhshers 
of American History and Its Geographic Conditions by 
Ellen Churchill Semple; to Little, Brown and Company, 
publishers of The California and Oregon Trail by Francis 
Parkman; to Lois Kimball Matthews, author of The Erie 
Canal and the Settlement of the West; to Yale University 
Press, publishers of A Journey to Ohio in 1810, by Margaret 
Dwight; to Charles Scribner's Sons, publishers of The 
Making of the Ohio Valley States, by Samuel Hopkins 
Adams, and Atidiibon and His Journals^ by Maria R. Audu- 
bon; to Princeton University Press, publishers of The New 
Purchase, by Robert Carlton; to G. P. Putnam's Sons, pub- 
lishers of The Winning of the West, by Theodore Roosevelt. 

John T. Faris. 
Philadelphia, 1920. 



CONTEXTS 

CHAPTER ON'E: THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 
TO KENTUCKY' AND TEXXESSEE 

PAGE 

I Preparing the Way 15 

II Through the Gre.\t Wilderxess 2S 

III The Ad\'Exture5 of Three Tr.\%-eleks 3S 

CHAPTER TWO: THROUGH THE PITTSBURGH AND 
WHEELIXG GATEWAYS 

I Braddock's Ro.\d and the Xation.\l Road 51 

II Struggles waiH the Alleghexies 5S 

III By Stage, by Emigrant Wagon, and on Foot 79 

CH.\PTER THREE: FLOATING DOWN THE OHIO 
AND THE MISSISSIPPI 

I In Perh-s of Waters 97 

II By Flatboat and Keelboat 110 

III From Ark to Steamboat 125 

CHAPTER FOUR: FROM NORTHERN NEW YORK 
AND NEW ENGL.\ND TO THE WEST 

I The Long Road to the Western Reser\-e 139 

II From Land to Water 153 

III All the Way to the Mississippi 163 

CHAPTER PR'S: THE SANTA FE TRAIL 

I The Lure of Gain ISo 

II Facing Famine ant) Fighting Int)l\ns 1S9 

III When the Trail was in Its Glory 197 

ix 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER SIX: THE OREGON TRAIL 

PAGE 

I The Wagon Wheels of Whitman 205 

II "Travel! Travel!! Travel!!!" 218 

HI With Francis Parkman in the West 229 

IV Learning by Bitter Experience 236 

CHAPTER SEVEN: ACROSS THE PLAINS 
TO CALIFORNIA 

I A Tragedy of the Trail 251 

II Across the Desert in Safety 262 

CHAPTER EIGHT: TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 

I With Lewis and Clark 275 

II By Means of Cordelle and Bridle 283 

III Early Steamboating on the Missouri 294 

Bibliography 305 

Index 313 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

"I . . . Think I Hear 
The Sound ojf that Advancing Multitude 
Which Soon Shall Fill These Deserts." Frontispiece 

PilGX 

On the Road in Early Days 32 

Evansville, Indiana, in Early Days 32 

The Old Fort at Lexington, Built in 1782 33 

Cumberland Gap, Tennessee 33 

The First Portrait of Washington 64 

Pittsburg in 1790 64 

Marker on the Wilderness Road 64 

Tablet at the Home of Major Arthur St. Clair, Near Greens- 
burg, Pennsylvania 65 

Old Fort Guddis, Near Uniontown, Pennsylvania .... 65 

Henry Clay Monument at Elm Grove, West Virginia . . 65 

Floating Down the River 112 

General Putnam Landing at Marietta 112 

Two Sections of the Ohio River 112 

Ohio River from the Summit of Grave Creek Mound . . 113 

Wabash River, Near Vincennes, Indiana 113 

McColloch's Dam, Near Wheeling, 1777 113 

On the Scent of the Emigrants 113 

Forty Fort in 1778 160 

On a New York Waterway 160 

Old Fort Van Rensselaer, Canajoharie, New York ... 161 

Chicago in 1820 161 

The Battle of the Alamo 192 

Marker on the Santa Fe Trail 192 

Wagons Parked for the Night 193 

Near Fort Deflance, New Mexico 193 

Caravan on the March 224 

xi 



xii ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Wagon Train Stampeded by Wild Horses 224 

Crossing the Plains 225 

DoNNER Monument, Donner Lake, California 256 

Inscription on Rock of Hell Roaring Canyon, Utah . . . 256 

San Francisco in November, 1848 257 

San Francisco in November, 1849 257 

Buffalo on the Prairie 288 

Indians Hunting the Buffalo 288 

The Last of the Buffalo 289 

"Madam Cuff" Again Appeared 289 



PREPARING THE WAY 

Fair elbow-room for men to thrive in ! 

Wide elbow-room for work or play! 
If cities follow, racing our footsteps, 

Ever to westward shall point our way! 
Rude though our life, it suits our spirit, 

And new-born States in future years 
Shall own us founders of a nation, 

And bless the hardy pioneers. 

— Charles Mackay. 

There is nothing more romantic in the story of the de- 
velopment of the United States than the records of the 
opening up of the great country between the western bound- 
aries of North Carolina and Virginia and the Mississippi 
river. Inspiring tales of the adventures of daring explorers 
and picturesque stories of the struggles and triumphs of 
hardy emigrants clamor for the attention of those who 
delve into the early history of Kentucky and Tennessee. 
Yet the pioneers from whose journals and letters most of 
these narratives are gleaned, told them in such a matter-of- 
fact manner that sometimes more than one reading is neces- 
sary to appreciate the magnificent meaning of what to them 
was a commonplace story. The pioneers had been trained 
in such a hard school that they did not falter in the face of 
obstacles which, to the average man of to-day, would seem 
overwhelming. They had heard from their fathers and 
grandfathers of the conquest of the wilderness near the 
Atlantic seaboard, and they cast eager eyes to the region 
beyond the mountains whose mysteries they longed to ex- 
plore, in whose fastnesses they dreamed of carving out a 
home. 

The first men to respond to the appeal of the unknown 

15 



16 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

lived in Virginia and North Carolina. At a time when New 
York had made little growth westward, when in Pennsyl- 
vania there was yet much land to be possessed east of the 
Alleghenies, the sturdy men of the Old Dominion and their 
neighbors to the south of them were groaning under the 
necessity of obeying the proclamation of King George, made 
in 1763, forbidding surveys or patents of land located be- 
yond the headwaters of streams running to the Atlantic. It 
was his thought that the surest way of retaining the good 
will of the Indians beyond the mountains was to leave them 
in undisturbed possession of their hunting grounds. 

The Virginians and the Carolinians thought that the 
king's stand was too cautious; they were sure they could 
make such treaties with the Indians that peaceful emigra- 
tion would be possible and desirable. But they held them- 
selves in check until 1768, when some of them joined with 
representatives of colonies farther north in making the 
treaty of Fort Stanwix with the Iroquois by which the In- 
dians yielded their rights to the region that corresponds, 
roughly, to the present state of Kentucky. 

Little time was lost in taking advantage of this treaty, 
which, it was felt, annulled the restrictive proclamation of 
the king, so far as these lands were concerned. In 1769 a 
few emigrants foimd their way down the valley between 
the Blue Ridge and the Allegheny mountains and into the 
interior wilderness. To Joseph Martin and his companions 
belongs the distinction of being the first of the vast com- 
pany of emigrants that made homes in the hunting grounds 
of the Indians. Their settlement was made in Powell's 
Valley, between the Cumberland and Powell mountains. 

Some of this venturesome advance guard soon paid the 
price so often exacted of the pioneer; Indians fell on the 
camp and made known their anger because of the settlers* 
failure to observe the pledge of the king as to settlements 
in their domain. These Indians were Cherokees, who re- 
fused to recognize the Fort Stanwix treaty because they 
claimed a portion of the lands ceded by the Iroquois. 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 17 

T'lis last hindrance to settlement was removed on Oc- 
tober i8, 1770, when Virginia made a treaty with the 
Cherokees, gaining their recognition of the right of emi- 
grants to settle in the region in dispute. 

The year before this treaty was made, Daniel Boone, 
the most picturesque character of pioneer days in Kentucky, 
was one of a company of six who made an exploring expedi- 
tion into the new land. - 

This was not Boone's first experience of the Kentucky 
wilderness, however. His interest in the region dated from 
his meeting with John Finley, when the two men were on 
their way with Braddock to Fort Du Quesne. Finley told 
Boone of his hunting experiences in the lands south of the 
Ohio. His tales of Kentucky fired Boone's imagination, 
and the two men planned to go there as soon as the trip to 
Fort Du Quesne was ended. Finley explained how easy it 
would be to travel from North Carolina to Kentucky along 
an Indian trail that led to Cumberland Gap, and then into 
the desired land. 

But it was not until 1760 that Boone was able to go to 
what is now western Tennessee. Here, on the banks of 
what is known as Boone's Creek, there stood until a few 
years ago a beech tree on whose bark was the inscription, 
evidently cut by the hunting knife of the pioneer, "D Boon 
cilled a bar on this tree in the year 1760." 

The trip of 1769 was made in company with John Finley, 
according to the program mapped out years before. The 
journey of the six men who made up the party was com- 
pleted in safety. Then one day the men were taken captive 
by the Indians, and their camp was plundered of a large 
store of furs, provisions and ammunition. Their horses 
also were taken. Before the hunters were released they 
were warned to keep away from the Indians' land on p^ia 
of death. 

Boone and his brother-in-law stole back into the Indians* 
camp and secured four horses, but they were pursued and 
captured. Seven days later the two men managed to escape 



18 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

while their captors were asleep. A little later they overtook 
their companions, who had turned homeward. 

In tlie meantime Squire Boone, Daniel's brother, had 
come from Vir^nia, according to previous arrangement, 
with fresh horses, provisions and ammunition. Daniel at 
once proposed to take this new equipment and return to 
Kentucky. Several of the company volunteered to go with 
him, but others decided to go back across the mountains. 

Boone and his companions continued their explorations 
and their hunting until one of the four was killed by In- 
dians, and another left for North Carolina. When pro- 
visions were low Squire Boone took the furs they had gath- 
ered and returned home, while Daniel pushed on as far as 
the Falls of the Ohio, at the present site of Louisville. 
He hoped to find a place to take his family. 

But before Boone was able to return with his family to 
Kentucky other settlers, attracted by the stories told by 
him, pushed on across the mountains. The character of the 
reports that enticed them may be judged by this extract from 
Boone's autobiography, which, while it must have been 
edited vigorously, is clearly a true representation of the 
Kentucky hunter's enthusiastic utterances : 

We found every where abundance of wild beasts of all 
sorts, through this vast forest. The buffalo were more fre- 
quent than I have ever seen cattle in the settlements, brows- 
ing on the leaves of the cane, or cropping the herbage on 
those extensive plains, fearless, because ignorant of the 
violence of man. Nature was here a series of wonders and 
a fund of delight. Here she displayed her ingenuity and 
industry in a variety of flowers and fruits, beautifully col- 
ored, elegantly shaped and charmingly flavored ; and we 
were diverted with innumerable animals presenting them- 
selves perpetually to our view. 

At another point he wrote : 

Just at the close of day the gentle gales retired ... not 
a breeze shook the most tremulous leaf. I had gained the 



THROUGH TPIE CUMBERLAND GAP 19 

summit of a commanding ridge, and, looking around with 
astonishing delight, beheld the ample plains, the beauteous 
tract below. On the other hand I surveyed the famous Ohio 
that rolled in silent dignity, ... At a vast distance I be- 
held the mountains lift their venerable brows and penetrate 
the clouds. 



The objection has been made that it would be difficult 
to see the Ohio and the mountains at the same time, but 
probably Boone allowed himself a poet's license when he 
made some of his descriptions! 

One of those who were lured by such reports was Jacob 
Brown, who, in 1771, settled on the Nolichucky, a branch 
of the Holston. The same year James Robertson took six- 
teen families to the Watauga, another branch of the Hol- 
ston. In 1772 Robertson was instrumental in combining 
the settlers of the Watauga, Carter's, and the Nolichucky 
valleys, into the Watauga Association, organized for self- 
government, with written articles of agreement. In 1776 
the association asked to be taken under the care of North 
Carolina, as the District of Washington. 

Their hopes of benefits to be received from North Caro- 
lina were not realized, and in 1784 the people organized a 
government of their own. In 1785 they asked Congress for 
permission to set up an independent state, covering a large 
part of Kentucky. 

Greenville was selected as a capital, and an assembly met 
there in a log cabin. The delegates, representing, it is 
thought, about twenty-five thousand people, chose a gov- 
ernor, made arrangements for a currency of fox and mink 
skins, and decided to ask Congress for recognition as a 
state. Benjamin Franklin was asked if they might adopt 
his name. Congress considered this a secession of a part 
of the parent state, and the petition for recognition was not 
granted. 

There followed a period when the little would-be com- 
monwealth was torn by factions, but it did not come to 



20 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

its disappointing end until it had continued for a number 
of years to be a little republic beyond the mountains and had 
paved the way for the greater commonwealth that was to 
receive the recognition of the United States. 

Two years after the settlement on the Nolichucky of 
Jacob Brown, which became a part of the sturdy Watauga 
Association, Daniel Boone made a further attempt to enter 
Kentucky. Of this he wrote as follows: 

I sold my farm on the Yadkin and what goods we could 
not carry with us, and on the twenty-fifth day of September, 
1773, bade a farewell to our friends and proceeded on our 
journey to Kentucky, in company with five families more, 
and forty men that joined us in Powell's Valley, which is 
one hundred and fifty miles from the now settled parts of 
Kentucky. The promising beginning was soon overcast 
with a cloud of adversity, for on the tenth day of October 
the rear of our company was attacked by a number of In- 
dians, who killed six, and wounded one more. Of these my 
eldest son was one that fell in the action. Though we de- 
fended ourselves, and repulsed the enemy, yet this unhappy 
affair scattered our cattle, brought us into extereme diffi- 
culty, and so discouraged the whole company that we re- 
treated to settlements on the Clinch river. 

Boone, chafing at the inaction, welcomed the call of the 
governor of Virginia for two good woodsmen who would 
dash into Kentucky by the Cumberland Gap route, to warn 
several surveying parties to be on their guard against In- 
dians who were rising to prevent the passage of settlers to 
the West. In company with Michael Stoner he penetrated 
far into Kentucky in July, 1774. Two months later the 
men returned, having done their work. 

Boone's next great opportunity came when, on March 17, 
1775, at Sycamore Shoals, on the Watauga, Colonel Rich- 
ard Henderson and a number of friends from North Caro- 
lina made a treaty with the Cherokees for the possession of 
the lands bounded by the Kentucky, Holston, Cumberland 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 21 

and Ohio rivers. Merchandise valued at ten thousand 
pounds was exchanged for eighteen miUion acres of land. 

Steps were taken at once to make easier the settlement 
of the country thus secured, which Colonel Henderson and 
his companions called Transylvania. The pioneers realized 
the truth of the words spoken to Boone by a chief of the 
Cherokees, "Brother, we have given you a fair land, but I 
believe you will have much trouble in settling it." 

No time was lost by the new owners of Transylvania in 
giving to Boone the commission to open a road for the 
emigrants who would be attracted to the country. Boone 
accepted the tremendous commission with no more anxiety 
than a carpenter would show over an order to build a 
wooden sidewalk. He knew the ways the buffaloes took 
in their migration, and he had followed the paths of the 
Indians. Equipped with this knowledge and his own un- 
erring instinct, and accompanied by thirty hardy companions, 
he made a way back to Cumberland Gap, then on through 
the wilderness. The men cut the trees, they burned the 
undergrowth, and they fought the Indians as they went. 

From the Gap the road led along the Warriors' Path, a 
mere trace used by the Indians in their journeys from their 
towns on the Ohio and the Scioto to their hunting grounds 
in the South. After following this path for some fifty 
miles, the roadmakers turned to the left and went on along 
a buffalo trace. At length they reached their goal, on the 
Kentucky river, and began the erection of a group of cabins 
for the accommodation of the settlers who were to come 
later under Henderson's leadership. 

An admirer who, in 19 16, went over the route taken 
by Boone, said in appreciation of him: 

He took his life in his hands and literally laid it at the 
feet of his fellows. Boone dared the frowning menace of 
great Pinnacle Rock, the most forbidding, somber mass of 
rock east of the Rockies ; he forded the treacherous Rock- 
castle, all the v/hile in danger of attacks from the red- 



S2 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

skinned allies of England, and westward by hard-won miles 
until at last he made the wonderful, fertile blue-grass lands 
more accessible to the emigrant. 

A Kentucky historian says of the achievement: 

The road marked out was at best but a trace. No vehicle 
of any sort passed over it before it was made a wagon road 
by action of the state legislature in 1795. The location of 
the road, however, is a monument to the skill of Boone as a 
practical engineer and surveyor. It required a mind of far 
more than ordinary caliber to locate through more than two 
hundred miles of mountain wilderness a way of travel 
which, for a hundred years, has remained practically un- 
changed, and upon which the state has stamped its approval 
by the expenditure of vast sums of money. 

The following year Colonel Henderson and Richard 
Logan, with many others, went along the Wilderness Road 
and saw for themselves what good work Boone had done. 
After the party had passed Cumberland Gap, Henderson 
and Logan had a disagreement, and there separated. Hen- 
derson went on with his followers to Boonesborough, while 
Logan turned to the left to the Crab Orchard and on to the 
site of what is now Danville, on the road to the Falls of 
the Ohio. He was not cutting a new road, however, for 
Boone had gone this way in 1773, when he went to the 
Ohio for the governor of Virginia after his family party 
had been halted by the attack of the Indians. 

Before long, representatives of three other settlements in 
the Transylvania territory gathered at Booneslx)rough and 
formed a House of Delegates for the government of the 
new colony. Laws were made, and the future of the Com- 
pany looked bright. It was even thought that Transylvania 
might be admitted as the fourteenth colony in the Revolu- 
tionary Union. But the opposition of Virginia and North 
Carolina, which claimed the land bought from the Cher- 
okees by the Company, the reluctance of Congress to sanc- 
tion the pretensions of the Company, and internal dissen- 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 23 

sions among the immigrants who found fault with what 
they called the avarice of Henderson and his associates, 
wrecked the company. 

While the vain attempt to secure Congressional action 
was being made, George Rogers Clark, who conducted the 
brilliant campaign of 1777 against Kaskaskia and Vin- 
cennes, was serving as a surveyor for the Ohio Company. 
He had not been in Kentucky long when he felt that some- 
thing should be done about the Transylvania Company's 
claim. Emigrants who were coming into the country by 
way of the Ohio were perplexed to know to whom the lands 
to the south of the Kentucky river belonged. Had they a 
real right to the country, or did Virginia intend to exercise 
control over the region? On June 6, 1776, Clark called a 
meeting of the citizens of Harrodsburg, to consider what 
should be done, and was appointed one of two delegates to 
the Virginia Legislature to present the matter. 

The journey to Williamsburg was difficult. The season 
was unusually wet, the roads were muddy, and there was 
constant danger from Indians. After a time one of the 
horses was lost, and Clark walked until his feet were blis- 
tered and sore. Years later he said he suffered more tor- 
ment on this trip than he had suffered before or since. 

Finally the two men reached Williamsburg, rejoicing 
that they could soon perform their errand. But, to their 
dismay, they learned that the legislature had adjourned. 

Clark sought an interview with the governor, Patrick 
Henry, and asked for a grant of five hundred pounds to 
buy powder for the use of the settlers in Kentucky in de- 
fending themselves against the Indians. When there was 
delay in furnishing the powder, he urged that "a country 
which is not worth defending is not worth claiming." These 
words proved efiFective, for Virginia intended to assert the 
right to Kentucky, against the Transylvania Company and 
all other claimants. 

At the next session of the legislature, Clark and his as- 
sociates brought about the organization of Kentucky as a 



24 OX THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

county of Virginia. Henderson's title to the lands bought 
from the Indians was denied, but in recognition of his serv- 
ices in promoting settlement and opening the Wilderness 
Road he was given a tract of two hundred thousand acres 
at the mouth of Green river. 

Boone, the real hero of the Wildemes Road, became a 
leader in the fight to save the Kentucky settlers from the 
Indians, who were encouraged in their attacks by the Brit- 
ish, the holders of the forts at St. Louis, Kaskaskia, Vin- 
cennes and Detroit. The Indians attacked the fort at 
Boonesborough several times in 1776 and 1777, but were 
repulsed. 

In Februar}-, 1778, the defenders of the fort were de- 
prived of their leader for a season. With thirty settlers 
Boone had gone to the lower Blue Lick to gather a supply 
of salt sufficient to last during a possible siege. The party 
was about to return to the fort when a warband of 
Shawnees captured Boone. 

His captors took him to tlieir camp, where he found a 
large party of warriors. The demai^d was made that he 
lead them to his companions. Naturally he did not wish to 
do this, but when he learned that the party was on the way 
to attack Boonesborough, he decided to comply with the 
demand. He understood savage nature well enough to 
foresee that if they had thirty captives, they would post- 
pone their attack on the settlement until they could take 
their men in triumph to Detroit and secure the liberal re- 
ward offered by the British. Later he was tried by court- 
martial for this betrayal of his companions, but the court 
approved his defense that it was better that thirty men 
should go into captivity than that a settlement should be 
destroyed. 

The jouVney to Detroit in the depth of winter proved 
difficult and dangerous. Intense cold and heavy snows 
interfered with game supplies. Finally some of the horses 
and dogs were killed for food. Later many were eager to 
kill the prisoners by torture. Fifty-nine Shawnees voted to 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 25 

bum the captives at the stake, hut fortunately sixty-one 
voted to save them for the reward. 

During the journey the Indians became so fond of Boone 
tha: they told him they wished to adopt him into the tribe. 
Ill vain Governor Hamilton, the British commander at 
Detroit, ottered one hundred pounds for Boone's release; 
he wished to use him as a scout. Boone was taken to the 
Shawnee village at Chillicouie. in Ohio, and there adopted 
by Chief Black Fish. 

He pretended to like the life at the Indian camp, but 
he was only waiting for a chance to escape. The Shawnees, 
fearing that he might leave them, were detennined that he 
should not secure a supply of powder and bullets: they 
know that lie would not dare to enter the trackless forest 
unarmed. Careful account was kept of the ammunition 
furnished him when he went on hunting expeditions, and he 
was compelled to return all for which he could not give 
accoimt. His cunning was greater than that of the Indians, 
for he managed to cut bullets in half and use small charges 
of powder when after small game. In this manner he laid 
by a small store of lead and powder. 

When he had been a prisoner for four months, his 
curiosity was aroused by the coming into camp of hun- 
dreds oi sarages in war-paint. By tliis time he understood 
more of the Shawnee language than he was willing to o\vn, 
so he had little difficulty in learning the purposes of the 
war party. They were planning an immediate attack on 
Boonesborough. 

He did not hesitate an instant in making his decision. 
His people must be warned at once, and no one could carr\' 
the warning but himself. He knew that recapture was al- 
most certain, yet he was willing to nm the risk. 

The stor\- of the journey of one hundred and sixty miles 
to Boonesborough is one of the most thrilling tales of 
pioneer days. Early on the morning of June i6, 1778, he 
asked leave to spend the day in hunting. As soon as he 
was out of sight of camp, he turned toward Kentucky. All 



26 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

his woodcraft was called into play to deceive those whom 
he knew would soon be on his track. He did not dare to 
shoot game, lest he betray his whereabouts. 

At last he reached the Ohio. Unfortunately the river 
was in flood, and he was not a good swimmer. Discovering 
an old canoe, he crossed the stream. Then he renewed his 
precautions. He could not use his gun, for he feared to 
betray himself to possible pursuers. For three days he 
lived on roots and raw meat, but on the third day he ven- 
turned to shoot a buffalo. A day or two later he entered 
Boonesbo rough, torn and bleeding, and looking the specter 
the people took him for. 

Two months later he led in the defense of the fort 
against four hundred and fifty Indians. Thus he cooper- 
ated in the saving of Kentucky with George Rogers Clark, 
who led the successful expedition against Kaskaskia and 
Vincennes. 

After the Revolutionary war he moved on farther into 
the wilderness. Later he went to Maysville, where he 
opened a tavern and store. Still later, when he moved to 
Point Pleasant, in western Virginia, he was elected to the 
Virginia Assembly for the third time, having previously 
been a member from Boonesborough and from Maysville. 

In 1796, when the Kentucky Legislature proposed to im- 
prove the Wilderness Road for wagon travel, Boone wrote 
to Governor Shelby: 

Sir, after my best Respts to your Excellency and famyly, 
I wish to inform you that I have sum intention of under- 
taking this New Rode that is to be cut through the Wilder- 
ness, and I think my Self intitled to the ofer of the Bisness 
as I first Marked out that Rode in March 1775 and Never 
rec'd anything for my trubel and Sepose I am no Statesman 
I am a Woodsman and think My Self as Capable of Mark- 
ing and Cutting that Rode as any other man. Sir if you 
think with Me I would thank you to wright me a line by 
the post the first oportuneaty and he Will Lodge it at Mr. 
John Milers on hinkston fork as I wish to know Where and 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 27 

When it is to be I->aat (let) So that I may atend at the 
time I am Deer Sir your very omble sarvent. 

Daniel Boone 

But the contract was given to others, to Boone'^s great 
disappointment. 

The first scheme for the improvement of the Wilder- 
ness Road was formed in 1792. One hundred and four 
men who agreed that something should be done wrote their 
names on a subscription list which is one of the valued rec- 
ords of the Kentucky Historical Society. These subscrip- 
tions ranged from three shillings to three pounds. 

At once many men were set to work on the road — wood 
cutters, surveyors, provision carriers, and corn grinders, 
among others. These men received two shillings and six- 
pence a day. The work lasted twenty-two days, and was 
completed in the summer of 1792. 

In 1793, 1794 and 1795 the legislature passed acts for 
the improvement of sections of the road. In 1797 pro- 
vision was made for the erection of a toll gate. Then the 
road took the name of "The Wilderness Turnpike," though 
it was never in those days a turnpike in the proper sense. 
To-day, when the Lincoln Highway follows it for ninety- 
eight miles, it has a right to the name. This stretch of the 
road is called, very properly, "Boone Way." 

Filson, the first historian of Kentucky, in his rare volume 
published in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1784, gave a map 
of the road which he called "The Road from the Old Settle- 
ments in Virginia to Kentuckee thro' the Great Wilder- 
ness." 



II. THROUGH THE GREAT WILDERNESS 

Here once Boone trod — the hardy pioneer — 
The only white man in the wilderneis; 
Oh, how he loved alone to hunt the deer, 
Alone at eve his simple meal to dress; 
No mark upon the tree, nor print nor track, 
To lead him forward or to guide him back; 
He roved the forest, king by main and might. 
And looked up to the sky and shaped his course aright. 

— Frederick W. Thomas. 

Ox'ER the famous Wilderness Road the emigrants found 
their way by scores and by hundreds, during the Revolu- 
tion, and after the war was over their niunbers became 
greater than ever. Imlay, an early traveler, said in the 
volume he wrote about America : 'T have seen upwards oi 
ten thousand emigrants to arrive in the single sta'^e of 
Kentucky within a year, and from four to ten thousand in 
several other years. A large proportion of these Kentucky 
emigrants went by Boone road, as well as the emigrants to 
Tennessee.'" 

Following this route to Tennessee. Tames Robertson, who 
had been prominent in the organization of the Watauga As- 
sociation, went, in 1779, with his son to the head of the 
Cimiberland and made a new settlement which he called 
Nashborough, later Nashville. A few months later Colonel 
Donelson, accompanied by several hundred men, women 
and children, went in thirty boats down the Tennessee, up 
the Ohio and itp the Cumberland, to Rol>ertson's settle- 
ment. One of those in the party later became the wife of 
Andrew Jackson. Soon after his arrival at Nashborough. 
Donelson and Robertson joined others in fonning an asso- 
ciation for self-government, similar to tlie Watauga Asso- 



THROUGH THE CU^IBERLAXD GAP 29 

ciation, of which there were two hundred and fifty-six 
members. 

Imlay, who wrote in 1793 concerning the Wilderness 
Road and Kentucky,^ * told of tlie sources of the emigration 
to the new country : 

Emigration to this country'- was mostly from the back 
parts of Virginia. Maryland, Pennsylvania and North 
Carolina, until 1784; in which year many officers who had 
ser\-ed in the American anny during the late war came out 
with their families: several families came also from Eng- 
land. Pemisylvania. New Jersey, York, and the New Eng- 
land States. The country- soon began to be chequered after 
tliat jera with genteel men. which operated both upon the 
minds and actions of the back woods people, who con- 
stituted die first emigrants. 

A suggestive record - tells of a company of the early emi- 
grants, made up of five men and their families. There 
was one horse in the equipment of the party that "was com- 
pelled to carr\- on his back what, with much more ease and 
convenience to himself and owner, can now be conveyed by 
means of wagons, but the latter could not be used on the 
trace at tliat time." 

That a horse under such circumstances might ca.rry the 
maximum load, 

the first tiling to be done was to apply to a pack-saddle 
maker. . . . The pack saddles being procured, the horse was 
loaded with such articles of household furniture and utensils 
as were needful for the journey and for making the neces- 
sary- improvements in the new country. . . . The feather 
beds were snugly rolled up. each one by itself. Two of 
these were fastened together by ropes and placed length- 
wise on tlie horse, one on each side; forming something like 
a cradle immediately over the horse's back, affording quite 
a convenient place in which to deposit the smaller children. 

* Notes will be found in a group at the close of eadi cliapter. 



80 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Another mode of conveying the little ones was by swinging 
across a gentle pack horse two large and properly con- 
structed baskets, in each of which were placed a pair of 
children, of a size and weight to form a proper balance. . . . 
Some care was, however, necessary to guard the animals 
thus loaded from coming in contact with the nests of yellow 
jackets, which were numerous along the trace in the fall 
of the year. In occasionally coming in contact with those 
nests, the horse would sometimes relieve himself of a part 
or the whole of his load, in the exertions to get rid of these 
tormenting insects. 

A description ^ of the pack saddle of the pioneer gives an 
even better idea of the necessary bit of equipment. It was 

a rude contrivance made of the forked branch of a tree in 
keeping with the primitive simplicity of the times. When 
fastened upon a horse it became the receptacle of the goods 
and chattels to be transported. Thus were carried pro- 
visions for the journey and the household stuff and utensils 
needed to make life tolerable when the journey was ended 
and the place of residence selected. 

The pack had to have a particular shape and the branch 
of a tree which could be made into a saddle was an at- 
tractive object. It is related that an early preacher once 
paused in his Sunday service with his eyes fixed on the 
top of a tree. He said: "I want to remark right here, that 
yonder is one of the best forks for a pack saddle I ever saw 
in the woods. When services are over we will get it." 

F. A. Michaux,* another early traveler, told how the 
users of these pack saddles got together: 

Those who emigrated . . . went to Block House, situated 
in Holston, westward of the mountains, and as the govern- 
ment of the United States did not furnish them with an 
escort, they waited at this place till they were sufficiently 
numerous to pass in safety through the wilderness, an un- 
inhabited space of a hundred and thirty miles, which they 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 31 

had to travel over before they arrived at Crab Orchard, the 
first post occupied by whites. 

East bound travelers on the road adopted the same pre- 
cautions. When a man wished to go to Virginia or eastern 
Kentucky he would watch for an advertisement in one of 
the papers of the pioneers giving a message like this, which 
appeared in the Kentucky Gazette of April 12, 1788: 

Notice is hereby given that a company will meet at the 
Crab Orchard on Sunday the 4th day of May, to go through 
the wilderness, and to set out on the 5th, at which time most 
of the Delegates to the State Convention will go. 

On May 3, 1788, the same paper announced: 

A large company will meet at the Crab Orchard on Sun- 
day, the 25th of May, in order to make an early start on 
Monday, the 26th, through the wilderness for the old settle- 
ment. 

On November i, 1788, the readers of the Gazette found 
this notice: 

A large company will meet at the Crab Orchard the 19th 
of November in order to start the next day through the 
wilderness. As it is very dangerous on account of the In- 
dians, it is hoped each person will go well armed. 

In an anniversary address ^ Chief Justice Robertson of 
Kentucky gave what he called an imperfect description of 
the pilgrimage of his own father and mother : 

An unexampled tide of emigrants, who, exchanging all 
the comforts of their native society and homes for settle- 
ments for themselves and their children here, came like 
pilgrims to a wilderness to be made secure by their arms 
and habitable by the toil of their lives. Through privations 
incredible and perils thick, thousands of men, women and 
children came in successive caravans, forming continuous 
streams of human beings, horses, cattle, and other domestic 
animals, all moving onward along a lonely and houseless 



82 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

path to a wild and cheerless land. Cast your eyes back on 
that long procession of missionaries in the cause of civiliza- 
tion, behold the men on foot with their trusty guns on their 
shoulders, driving stock and loading pack horses; and the 
women, some walking with pails on their heads, others 
riding with children in their laps, and other children swung 
in baskets on horses, fastened to the tails of others going 
before; see them encamped at night expecting to be 
massacred by Indians; behold them in the month of De- 
cember, in that ever memorable season of unprecedented 
cold called "the hard winter," traveling two or three miles 
a day, frequently in danger of being frozen or killed by 
the falling of horses on the icy and almost impassable trace, 
and subsisting on stinted allowances of stale bread and meat; 
but now lastly, look at them, at the destined fort, perhaps 
on the eve of merry Christmas, when met by the hearty 
welcome of friends who had gone before, and cheered by 
fresh buffalo meat and parched com, they rejoice at their 
deliverance and resolve to be contented with their lot. 

The demand for Kentucky lands was increased by the 
action of Virginia in 1781, in setting aside millions of 
acres in the territory as bounties for revolutionary soldiers. 
In 1782 there were twelve thousand people in Kentucky, 
and in 1784 the number had increased to thirty thousand. 
In 1790 the territory had a population of over ninety-three 
thousand. 

"The enthusiasm for emigrating was at that time carried 
to such a degree that some years upwards of twenty thou- 
sand have been known to pass," a visiting foreigner wrote 
in amazement. "The overflow of new colonies very soon 
raised the price of land in Kentucky; from twopence and 
twopence half penny per acre, it suddenly rose to seven or 
eight shillings." 

In 1793 Imlay said,® in connection with a map drawn by 
him for insertion in his volume of travels : 

You will discern that Kentucky is already divided into 
nine counties, and that villages are springing up in every 




ON IHK HOAD IJf EARLY DAYS 



From an old print 





From "NnlionnJ Gallery of American Landscape 

EVA.VSVILLE, INDIANA, IN EARLY DAYS 




From an old /unil n produced in "The Magazine of American History' 

THE OLD FORT AT I.EXl Nt.TOX, BUILT IN 1782 



■*^' . .-ISF*^ 




From "Picturesque America" 



CUMBERLAND GAP, TENNESSEE 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 33 

part within its limits, while roads have been opened to 
shorten the distance to Virginia, and to smooth the rugged 
paths which a short time since were only tracts of com- 
munication from one place to another. 

In 1800 the population of Kentucky was two hundred 
and twenty thousand, or more than there were in Con- 
necticut at that time. 

Imlay's table of stations "^ and distances on the road from 
Philadelphia to Louisville helps one to appreciate the diffi- 
culties of the pioneers: 

From Philadelphia to Lancaster 66 

To Wright's on Susquehanna. ., 10 

To York-town. .; 12 

Abbott's-town 15 

Hunter' s-town , 10 

the Mountain at Black's Gap 3 

the other side of the Mountain 7 

the Stone-house Tavern 25 

Wadkin's Ferry on Potowmack 14 

Martinsburg , 13 

Winchester , 20 

New-town 8 

Stover's-town 10 

Woodstock 12 

Shanandoah River 15 

the North branch of Shanandoah 29 

Staunton 15 

the North Fork of James River 37 

James River 18 

Botetourt Court House 12 

Woods on Catawba River 21 

Paterson's on Roanoak 9 

the Allegany Mountain 8 

New River 12 

the Forks of the Road 16 

Fort Chissel I2 

Stone Mill 1 , 11 

Boyd's 8 



34 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Head of Holstein 5 

Washington Court House 45 

the Block-House 35 

Powell's Mountain 33 

Walden's Ridge 3 

the Valley Station 4 

Martin Cabbin's 25 

Cumberland Mountain 20 

the Ford of Cumberland River 13 

the Flat Lick 9 

Stinking Creek 2 

Richland Creek 7 

Down Richland Creek 8 

Rackoon Spring 6 

Laurel River , 2 

Hazle Patch 15 

the Ford on Rock Castle River 10 

English's Station 25 

Col. Edward's at Crab Orchard 3 

Whitley's Station 5 

Logan's Station 5 

Clark's Station 7 

Crow's Station , 4 

Harrod's Station 3 

Harlands 4 

Harbison's 10 

Bards-town 25 

the Salt works 25 

the Falls of the Ohio . ., 20 

Total 826 

Rev. Peter Cartwright, the pioneer Methodist circuit 
rider, in giving an account of his life,^ told of the coming 
of his parents to Kentucky by this route, shortly after the 
Revolution : 

It was an almost unbroken wilderness from Virginia to 
Kentucky at that early day. . . . There were no roads for 
carriages, and tliough the emigrants moved by thousands, 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 35 

they had to move on pack horses. The fall my father 
moved there were a great many families who joined to- 
gether for mutual safety. Besides the two hundred families 
thus united there were one hundred young men, well armed, 
who agreed to guard these families through the wilderness. 
After we struck the wilderness we rarely traveled a day but 
we passed some white persons, murdered and scalped by 
the Indians. 

When they were some miles from the Crab Orchard, the 
first white settlement recorded, seven families camped for 
the night. The others went on to the station. That night 
those left behind were killed by the Indians. 

At one time a number of churches traveled in a body 
from Virginia to Kentucky : ^ 

Such a company journeying through the wilderness was 
an impressive scene. The voice of their pastor can be heard 
encouraging them with sermons drawn from the Exodus 
of the Israelites. While they enjoyed the good fortune of 
fair weather, sunshine and immunity from Indian molesta- 
tion, we can hear their cheerful voices in happy conversa- 
tion. . . . But when the clouds lowered and rain, sleet and 
snow were driven against them by the bleak mountain 
winds, we can see the distress of the women, and hear the 
pitiful cry of the little ones. If, to the dismal wretchedness 
of rough, wild country and stormy weather, were added 
the horrors of an Indian attack, the picture of helpless 
distress is complete. 

One emigrant company of five families had with them 
twenty or more horses and some fifty head of cattle, in- 
cluding a few cows to provide milk for the children.^*' Each 
day when the party would set out, the cattle were driven in 
advance by two or three men or boys. At first it was 
difficult to make the animals move properly, but soon they 
seemed to be as well accustomed to being on the move as 
those who drove them. The pack horses followed in single 
file. These were in charge of the men, who walked along- 



86 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

side on foot, each with his rifle on his shoulder, l^sually 
the women and small children were in the rear on horse- 
back, though sometimes a mother would lead the horse that 
carried her children. 

All went well until the emigrants reached the middle of 
the wilderness. Then the cold rain fell day after day. The 
creeks became swollen. Finally there was frost and snow. 
Fixxl Ivcame scarce, and the horses lost tlesh and failed in 
strength. Food for the women and children l>ecanie scanty. 
The party halted, while the luniters set out after game. 
The search was unsuccessful; the noise of the men in the 
frozen snow alaniied the animals so eagerly sought. With 
heavy hearts the fathers returned to their children who 
were crying from hunger. It became necessary to kill sc>me 
of the precious cattle for fcKxl The meat was cooked with- 
out seasoning and was eaten without bread. 

Thus passed seven or eight weeks. For a time the cattle 
lived on the cane, (^they were encamped 'n\ a canebrake), 
but the day came when rain froze on the cane. Deprived of 
the only iood. all the cattle died. \\ hen it Ixcame possible 
to travel there were not enough horses to carry the biiggage, 
and it was found necessary to hide some of the heavier 
articles in the hope that these might be recovered in the 
spring. 

Fortunately, two himters who went in advance of the 
party succeeded in killing a deer. Some of the children 
were so eager for food that they ate the meat half raw. 
Later in the dav two more deer were brought in whose 
flesh was lean and blue. 

After many weeks of privation the emigrants reached 
English Station. The first dried butTalo meat they had 
there seemed like a great delicacy. 

Remaining only long enough to see their families safely 
housed, some of the men went back to the wilderness for 
the gcKids they had left behind. 

They searched for these in vain. Later they learned 
that thieves had raided not onlv this cache but alsc^ the 



Timour.ri the Cumberland gap 37 

caches of many otlier emigrant companies which had been 
forced lo leave their goods behind during that trying winter. 
h'ouv months after the party reached l^nghsh Station, 
two of the men were felHng trees near their homes when 
they heard a call from the forest. Hastily they reached for 
their ritles, for they feared an Indian surprise. lUit when 
tile call was repeated, they investigated and found a man 
without clothing. The unfortunate man told that while 
he was in the forest near Morton's Station, hunting strayed 
cattle, the station had been taken by the Indians and all the 
settlers had been killed. On his return he learned of the 
disiister in time to escape. When he came to the Kentucky 
river he made a raft, rolled his clothing in a bundle, and 
tried to reach the opposite shore. The raft upset, the 
clothes were lost in the stream, and with great dilViculty he 
succeeded in landing. Then he wandered about until he 
heard tlie woodsmen and called to them for help. 



III. THE ADVENTURES OF THREE TRAVELERS 

The mountains that enclose the vale 
With walls of granite, steep and high, 

Invite the fearless foot to scale 
Their stairway toward the sky. 

The bars of life at which we fret 

That seem to prison and control, 
Are but the doors of daring, set 

Ajar before the soul. 

— Henry Van Dyke. 

William Calk went from Prince William County, Vir- 
ginia, to Boonesborough, in 1775. In his journal ^^ he told 
of the experiences of the trip, which lasted from March 13 
to May 2. In part, this record was as follows: 

Satrd 25th — We start early over some more very Bad 
mountains one that is called Clinch mountain and we git 
this night to Danil Smiths on Clinch and there we staid till 
thursday morning on tuesday night and Wednesday morn- 
ing it snowed Very hard and was very Coald and we hunted 
a good deal there While we staid in Rough mountains and 
kild three deer and one turkey Eanock Abram and I got 
lost tuesday night and it a snowing and Should a lain in 
the Mountains had not I a had a pocket compas by which I 
got in a littel in the night and fired guns and they heard 
them and came in By the Repoart. 

thursd 30th — We set out again and went down to Elk 
garden and there suplied our Selves With Seed Corn and 
irish tators then we went on a littel way I turned my hors 
to drive before me and he got scard ran away threw Down 
the Saddel Bags and brok three of our powder goards and 
Abrams beast Burst open a Walet of corn and lost a good 
Deal and made a turrabel flustration amongst the Reast of 

38 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 39 

the Horses Drakes mair run aganst a sapling and noct it 
down we cacht them all agin and went on and lodged at 
John Duncans. 

frdy 31st — We suplyed our Selves at Dunkans with a 
103 pounds of Bacon and went on again to Brileys mill and 
suployed our Selves with meal and lodged this night on 
Clinch By a large cainbraike and cuckt our Suppers. 

April Saturdy ist — This morning there is ice at our camp 
half inch thick we start early and travel this Day along a 
verey Bad hilley way cross one creek whear the horses al- 
most got mired some fell in and all wet their loads wair we 
cross Clinch River and travell till late in the Night and 
camp on Cove creek, having two men with us that wair 
pilates . . . 

frday 7th — this morning is a very bad snowy morning, 
we still continue at Camp being in number about 40 men 
and some neagros this Eaven Comes a letter from Capt. 
Boone at caintuck of the indians doing mischief and some 
turns back. 

Saturdy 8th — We all pack up and started crost Cumber- 
land gap about one o'clock this Day Met a good maney 
peopel turned Back for fear of the indians but our Company 
goes on Still with good courage we come to a very ugly 
Creek with steep Banks and have to cross several times 
on this Creek we camp this night. 

Sunday 9th — this morning we wait at camp for the cattel 
to Be drove up to kill a Beef tis late before they come and 
people make out a littel snack and agree to go on till night 
we git to Cumberland River and there we camp meet more 
men turn Back. . . . 

tuesday nth . . . We cross Cumberland River and 
travel Down it about 10 miles through some turrabel cain- 
brakes as we went down abrams mair Ran into the River 
with her load and swam over he followed her and got on 
her and made her swim back agin it is a very raney Eaven- 
ing we take up Camp near Richland Creek they kill a beef 
Mr. Drake Bakes Bread without washing his hands we 
Keep Sentry this Night for fear of the indians. 

Wednesday 12th — this is a Raney morning But we pack 
Up and go on we come to Richland Creek it is high we tote 



40 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

our packs over on a tree and swim our horses over and 
there we meet another Companey going Back they tell such 
News Abram and Drake is Afraid to go aney further there 
we camp this night. 

thursday 13th .. . Abram and Drake turn Back we go 
on and git to loral River we come to a creek Before wheare 
we are able to unload and to take our packs over on a log 
this day we met about 20 men turning Back We are obliged 
to take our packs over loral river and swim our horses and 
one hors ran in with his pack and lost it in the river and 
they got it agin. ... 

Sunday i6th — cloudy and warm we start early and go on 
about 2 miles down the river and then turn up a creek that 
we crost about 50 times some very bad foards with a great 
Deal of very good land on it in the Eavening we git over 
on to the waters of Caintuck and go a little down the creek 
and there we camp keep sentel the fore part of the Night it 
rains very har all night. . . . 

tusdy 1 8th — Air fin and cool and we go about 10 oclock 
we meet 4 men from Boons camp that caim to conduck us 
on we camp this night just on the Beginning of the good 
land near the Blue lick they Kill 2 bofelos this Eavening. 

thursdy 20th — We start early and git Down to caintuck 
to Boons foart about 12 oclock where we stop they come 
out to meet us and welcom us in with a voley of guns. 

friday 21st — . . . they begin laying off lots in the town 
and preparing for people to go to work to make corn. 

Satterdy 22nd — they finish laying out lots this Eavening 
I went a fishing and caught 3 cats they meet in the night 
to draw for chose of lots but prefer it till morning. 

Sundy 23rd — this morning the peopel meets and draws 
for chois of lots . . . 

mondy 24th — We all view our lots and some Dont like 
them . . . 

tusdy 25th — in the eaving we git on a plain at the 
mouth of the creek and begin clearing. 

Wednesday 26th — We Begin Building us a house and a 
plaise of Defense to Keep the Indians off this day we begin 
to live without bread. 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 41 

thursdy 27th — Raniey all Day But We Still keep about 
our house. 

Satterdy 29th — We git our house Kivered with Bark and 
mov our things into it at Night and Begin housekeeping 
Eanock Smith Robert Whitledge and myself. 

William Brown, an emigrant of 1782, told of his ex- 
periences : ^^ 

Set out from Hanover [Virginia] Monday, 27th May, 
1782 . . . Crossing the Blue Ridge is not bad . . . Neither 
is the Alleghany Mountain by any means difficult at this 
gap. . . . We waited hereabouts near two weeks for com- 
pany, and then set out for the wilderness with twelve men 
and ten guns, this being Thursday, i8th July. The road 
from this until you get over Walten's Ridge generally is bad, 
some part very much so. . . . It will be but a thin settled 
country whenever it is settled. The fords of Holstein and 
Clinch are both good in dry weather, but in a rainy season 
you are often obliged to raft over. . . . For about fifty 
miles as you travel along the valley, Cumberland Mountain 
appears to be a very high ridge of white rocks, inaccessible 
in most places to either man or beast and affords a wild 
romantic prospect. The way through the gap is not very 
difficult, but from its situation travelers may be attacked in • 
some places, crossing the mountain, by the enemy to a very 
great disadvantage. From thence until you pass Rockcastle 
River there is very little good road ; this tract of country is 
very mountainous, and badly watered along the trace, 
especially for springs. There is some good land on the 
water courses, and just on this side Cumberland River ap- 
pears to be a good tract, and within a few years I expect 
to have a settlement on it. . . . Monday, 29th inst, I got 
to Harrodsburg. 

In March, 1778, Daniel Trabue, a young man of twenty- 
one, set out from his Virginia home to join Colonel George 
Rogers Clark in Kentucky on the expedition authorized by 
the Virginia legislature which resulted in the conquest of 
Cahokia and Vincennes. In the party were seven men, in- 



42 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

eluding James Trabue, Daniel's brother, and a negro boy. 
Only a small supply of provisions was taken; the depend- 
ence of the men was on game they thought they would 
kill. The journey was made by way of Cumberland Gap, 
where the first adventure was staged. 

The sight of fresh Indian tracks brought the little party 
to a stand. The diary kept by Daniel Trabue ^^ tells what 
happened : 

James Trabue ordered everyone to alight, and prime our 
guns afresh, and put 2 bullets in each man's mouth, and if 
we came up with the Indians, we must fight our best. . . . 
We had one man with us that was named Locust ; he said 
he wished he could come iip with the Indians ; he wanted so 
bad to have a chance of killing them : he said he could Jcill 
five himself: he could shoot, he could tomahawk, and make 
use of his butcher's knife. 

The pursuit continued. "I was getting very afraid that 
we would be defeated," the honest Trabue wrote. "As we 
went on I talked some with Locust; again he talked the 
same way of killing, and I began to feel chicken-hearted. 
I was afraid I would be killed in this dreary howling wil- 
derness. 

"I thought if I came in contact with the Indians I would 
go behind a tree, or in the rear, but I thought tliat would 
not do. as I might be called a coward." 

Suddenly two Indians were seen, sitting in the road, 
eating. They sprang to their feet and fled. Daniel was 
among the lustiest of the pursuers. After a time, seeing 
that the pursuit would be vain. James Trabue called a halt. 
Then the men praised Daniel for his bravery. 

The boastful Locust was not in sight. Had he refused 
to give up the pursuit, but the negro boy explained the 
absence of the brave Indian fighter who longed to face five 
Indians alone. He had relieved the negro of the care of 
the horses, and had remained safely in the rear! 

More than three years later, while William Trabue was 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 4^ 

in the same general region, with ten or twelve armed men, 
the party overtook a number of families moving to Kentucky 
who begged the men to join their company, for added pro- 
tection.^* 

When near Cumberland Gap Daniel Trabue and two 
other men went bear hunting; the large party was in need 
of meat. Bear tracks were soon discovered on a lofty ridge, 
and the pursuit of the animal was begun. 



\\'"e turned to the right to go down the ridge. There was 
a Gap between two lofty rocks. We went through the gap 
and down a few steps, and we were on a bench lo or 12 
feet wide, and there was a shelving rock from the ridge 
which mostly covered this bench, ... In the front of this 
bench, as we would look down the mountain from where 
we stood, it appeared to be Impossible to go further as it 
was about 25 feet Down to the next bench perpendicular. 
We said "Here is a jumping off place; it is good and dry 
where we stand, but what will we Do if the Indians come 
on us here?" We all concluded that it M'ould kill any man 
who would jump down; that if the Indians did come we 
could keep oft' 20 by shooting them as they would approach^; 
the bench that we were on was about 20 yards long. 

A fire was built on the bench. As the men stood before 
the fire a stick cracked at the gap behind them. Trabue 
stooped down to get his gim, and saw the Indians in the 
gap. The men turned to defend themselves when a startling 
sound from behind made them turn. Other Indians were 
coming through the gap at the other end of the bench. 

The situation was critical. There was no escape from 
the bench, save through the gap where the Indians were, 
and down the precipice which had made the men shudder 
as they looked at it only a few minutes before. 

But not many seconds were given to decide what to do. 
From both sides the Indians rushed in, brandishing their 
tomahawks. With one accord the men leaped over the 
edge of the bench, to what they thought might be their 



44 ON TIIK TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

death, l)iit to their surprise they hj^hted on anotlier scanty 
bcneh of soft earth ahoiit two feet wide. From this they 
shpped to the next bench. By this time they were out of 
sight of the Indians. Other l)enches were taken rapidly 
and before long the bear hunters were down the mountain. 
The sound of pursuit could be heard, but the Indians were 
following a safe track and there was hope. 

Trabue kicked ofT his shoes because they were wet as 
well as too big. A moment later, thinking of the silver 
buckles that were worth six dollars, he turneil back to pick 
them up. As he stooped to recover the shoes he saw the 
Indians, one of whom fired at him from a distance of a 
hundred yards. "I felt bad," he owned in his story of the 
day. 

Finally, after a stern chase, the Indians gave up, but 
not until the bear hunters were within sight of their camp. 

As they talked over the events of the afternoon they 
wondered how they could have escaped from twelve or 
fifteen Indians. They decided that the savages had no 
notion that tlie white men would jump down from the 
bench, and that their guns must have been wet. 

"The next day neither of us could scarcely walk," the 
stirring tale concludes. "Our friends had to bring up our 
horses to us, for us to get on them." 

Daniel Trabue made a second journey to Kentucky in 
the spring of 1785. Of this he wrote: ^'^ 

Early in the spring of 1785 we concluded to move to 
Kentucky. About the last of March Brother J.'mics Trabue 
and I, with a negro man and a few Virginians, set out to 
come through the wilderness. 

When we reached the frontier we heard that the Indians 
were very troublesome. But few people were using the 
Wilderness Koad, st> the old Virginians turned back home. 
My Brother and I, and the negro, went on to Powell's Val- 
ley, and Tarryed several Days waiting for company. Cap- 
tain Thomas Gert from Kentucky, Mr. Bramlett from Bed- 
ford County, Va., a Frenchman and one more concluded to 



TriRouGir THE cumbi':uland gap 45 

join us, so we set out and traveled over tlie most dangerous 
places in the night. 

We got to Cumberland Gap alx>ut dark expecting by Day- 
light to reach the big Lake, which is alx)ut 20 miles away. 
We thought we would then take to the woods, or that even 
if we kept the Trail, we w/juld not be in so much danger, 
after we had passed the big lake. But on account of bad 
mud holes, slippery banks, cane brakes, and some logs 
across the road, darkness overtook us much sooner than we 
wished, and we could not leave the Trail in that section of 
the country. We went on briskly, and bravely until we got 
past the big lick where the Indian War road leaves the 
Kentucky road. 

We stopped anrl fed our horses on the grass, ate our su[>- 
|)er, and went on again. That evening we met a large com- 
pany of about a hundred men from Kentucky, who told us 
there were plenty of signs of Indians ahead. We thought 
that the Indians would try to surprise either us or the 
larger company that night. We let our fire go out, and one 
of us kept awake, but Brother James and 1 concluded we 
were now out of danger, but it was best to look sharp. 

Brother James and I generally went a little ahead. I 
was now in advance, when suddenly, I saw an Indian ahead 
100 yards, by a tree, behind which he dodged. As we 
passed, he then ran off apparently scared. Mr. Bramlett 
said, "I^t us take after him and kill him," \mt James Trabue 
said "He is not there by himself. Indians do not go to War 
^00 miles unless they are prepared for it. Furthermore if 
we stay here another minute we will see plenty of them." 
"What .shall we do?" said Capt. Gert who was an old In- 
dian fighter. "Dart off into the woods with all our might," 
said James Trabue, which we did, James going ahead. 

We kept to the woods nearly all day, and saw plenty of 
signs showing that a large quantity of Inrlians were in 
that section of the country; we felt very wild and skittish. 
. . . We thought it was probable that we might come across 
some straggling parties of Indians hunting, and we con- 
cluded to kill them if we could. . . . Just before night we 
came to the road near Rockcastle; we kept to the roarl, and 
had to go up Scrags' Creek, crossing it many times. 



46 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Darkness overtook us, and as it was cloudy it seemed to 
me the darkest night I ever saw. As we all thought that we 
were in imminent danger, we concluded to travel during the 
night, and to keep on to a station at Crab Orchard. As we 
went on the Frenchman's horse fell with him several feet 
down an embankment. We were a long time trying to get 
him out, and finally were compelled to .make a light to do so. 
We now concluded to stop, and turn our horses out, but 
hoppled them. Some of us kept awake while others slept. 

I for one did not sleep any, as the horses were alarmed 
at something that we apprehended was Indians. I waked 
up the men, and told them it was not so dark as it had 
been, and since the horses were alarmed at something we 
had best start. To this they all consented. We reached 
Crab Orchard about 9 o'clock in the morning, ordered 
breakfast and our horses fed. I went into the house almost 
asleep; laid by my saddle bags and gun and went to bed. 
That afternoon Bro. James, and I, and my negro, went to 
Gilbert's Creek, where G. S. Smith lived, and from there 
to Woodford, where I intended to live. 

My brother James went back to Virginia and left me. 
I made some arrangements for the reception of my family, 
and in July set out for home again. When we went through 
the wilderness this time, we had one hundred men in the 
company, and they voted me as their Captain. We kept out 
strong sentries each night, and getting through the wilder- 
ness safely and well, I soon got back to Chesterfield, to 
my family, and made arrangements to move to Kentucky 
by way of Fort Pitt. 

Only seventeen years after this adventurous journey, 
Kentucky became a state in the Union, and the pioneers 
rejoiced. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER I 
(See Bibliography) 

1. "Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North 

America," p. 153. 

2. "Pioneer Biography," Vol. I, p. 182. 

3. "Description, Settlement and Present State of Kentucky." 

4. "Travels to the West of the Allegheny Mountains," p. 159. 

5. "The Wilderness Road" (Filson Club), p. 41. 



THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND GAP 47 

6. "Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North 

America," p. 397. 

7. Ditto. 

8. "Autobiography of Peter Cartwright," p. 2. 

9. "The Wilderness Road" (Filson Club), p. 39. 

0. Ditto, p. 34. 

1. Ditto, p. 57. 

2. Ditto, p. 14. 

3. "Colonial Men and Times," p, 14. 

4. Ditto, p. 70. 

5. Ditto, p. 120. 



I. BRADDOCK'S ROAD AND THE NATIONAL ROAD 

"Then o'er the hills in legions, boys, 
Fair freedom's star 
Points to the sunset region, boys, 
Ha-ha! ha-ha!" 

The movement of population westward through Penn- 
sylvania was not well under way until thousands had 
trodden Boone's Wilderness Road. Up to a few years 
before the Revolution, Lancaster, sixty-six miles west of 
Philadelphia, was thought of as a backwoods settlement, 
and those who penetrated far beyond it were considered 
quite venturesome. 

The few travelers who found their way across the moun- 
tains at this early day had their choice of a route south to 
Baltimore, then up the Potomac river to Fort Cumberland, 
and from there by the Wills Creek road, or, as it was known 
after 1755, Braddock's Road. George Washington, when 
a colonel of the Virginia Militia, toiled along this road. Of 
the journey he wrote, "The great difficulty and the labor 
that it requires to mend and alter the road prevent our 
marching above three or four miles a day." 

This road touched the Youghiogheny * at Redstone Old 
Fort (now Brownsville, Pennsylvania). From this point 
many chose to go by water to Pittsburgh, a distance of 
fifty miles. 

* Early travelers found the name of this stream most difficult. 
Braddock called it "Youghheagany." One appointed to view it for 
the State spelled the name "Yohiogain." General Forbes made two 
efforts, Yohageny and Yachiogeny. The Pennsylvania Assembly, in 
an official communication to Governor Morris, spoke of it as "Yoigo- 
gain." Many people solved the difficulty of spelling and pronuncia- 
tion by calling it simply "Yaw." 

61 / 



62 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

General Braddock, however, continued by land his diffi- 
cult route to Pittsburgh, hewing through the forest a path 
over which tens of thousands of emigrants later picked 
their steps as they responded to the call of the West. 

Remembrance of the difficulties of this route, and desire 
to make the passage to the West easier for those who 
would go to take possession of the rich lands in the coun- 
try tributary to the Ohio river, led Washington to father 
a scheme for improving Potomac navigation by a canal. 
He hoped that, by the use of the canal, travelers would be 
able to reach the Ohio after making a single portage. So 
the Patowmack Company was organized on May 17, 1785, 
at Alexandria, Virginia, Washington being the chairman 
of the meeting held for the purpose.^ Work on the project 
was begun at once, and before many months rapid progress 
had been made in the face of physical difficulties as well 
as of trials like those of which the treasurer of the company 
wrote officially : ^ 

Great Falls potowmack July 3d 1786. Sir: We have 
Been much Imposed upon the last Two weeks in the powder 
way (we had our Blowers, One Run off the other Blown 
up) we therefore was Obliged to have two new hands put 
to Blowing and there was much attention given to them 
least axedents should happen yet they used the powder 
Rather too Extravagant, But that was not all they have cer- 
tainly stolen a Considerable Quantity as we have not more 
by us than will last until tomorrow noon. Our hole troop 
is such Villians that we must for the future give the powder 
into Charge of a person appointed for the purpose to meas- 
ure it to them on the ground by a Charger. — I hope you will 
have it in your power to send us powder here Inmiediately 
. . . please to send i lb. of Salt Petre with the powder, we 
think we Can make matches with it that will Save powder. 

All difficulties were at length overcome and in Febniary, 
1802, the locks at Great Falls were opened for service. For 
twenty-eight years they were in use. Through them passed 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 53 

immense quantities of merchandise and thousands of 
settlers bound for the West. 

The first step in the final stage in the development of the 
Potomac route into the West was taken in 1806 when Al- 
bert Gallatin, who had a vision of a great Government 
road to connect the East with Western Pennsylvania, West- 
em Virginia, Ohio and the regions farther West, succeeded 
in having commissioners appointed by President Jefferson 
to report on the possibility of his project. 

Samuel Adams Drake - tells how the necessity of the 
road was brought home to lawmakers at Washington by 
the complaints of the settlers in Ohio: 

Remoteness began to be felt, first as a serious. hindrance 
to rapid prosperity, and then as a grievance to be redressed 
in one way or another. With the rise of a feeling that they 
were being neglected, added to that of a growing power 
within themselves, sentimental attachment to the Union be- 
gan to cool. 

But when that remoteness was felt to be steadily drawing 
East and West apart, statesmen began to be alarmed for the 
national unity and with good reason. Already disunion 
was being openly talked of in Kentucky; already the pros- 
pects of a Western Confederacy were being coldly dis- 
cussed ; already demagogues were asking, not what the 
Union had cost the whole country, but what was it worth 
to them alone. 

It was then seen that facility of communication alone 
could bring these two widely separated sections together; 
so, when Ohio was admitted, the United States had agreed 
to make a great national highway from the navigable waters 
of the Atlantic Slope to the Ohio River. 

Cumberland, Maryland, was fixed as the starting point. 
Thence the road was to run to Uniontown and Washing- 
ton, Pennsylvania. The Ohio was to be crossed at Wheel- 
ing, and the road was then to be built on to Columbus and 
Indianapolis. 

The first contracts, for ten miles leading out of Cumber- 



54 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

land, were signed in 1811. Six years later Uniontown was 
reached. The first mail coach ran through from Washing- 
ton to Wheeling in 1818. In 1843 the road was com- 
pleted to Columbus, and Indianapolis was reached not long 
afterward. Though the grading was finally done as far as 
Vandalia, Illinois, and the route was surveyed into Missouri, 
the finished road stopped at Indianapolis. 

The National or Cumberland Road was a financial fail- 
ure, but the statesmanlike purpose of its sponsors was ac- 
complished. Their aim was to help the West. In this they 
succeeded. During the generation when most immigrants 
used the road, the population of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois 
increased from 783,635 to 3,620,314. Scores of thousands 
of those who helped to make this increase traveled by this 
route, which was, from Cumberland to Redstone Old Fort, 
the successor of the Wills Creek Road and Braddock's 
Road. 

William Cobbett, one of these early travelers on this 
National Road, said that on July 25, 1818, he met ten 
wagons loaded with emigrants within eight miles. He had 
both praise and blame for the roadmakers. Once he 
wrote : ^ 

This general government road is by no means well laid 
out; it goes straight over the top of the numerous little 
hills, up and down, up and down. It would have been a 
great deal nearer in point of time, if not in distance (though 
I think that, too), if a view had been had to the labour of 
travelling over these everlasting unevennesses. 

Again he said, of the road near Wheeling: 

It is covered with a very thick layer of nicely broken 
stones, or stone, rather, laid on with great exactness both 
as to depth and width, and then rolled down with an iron 
roller, which reduces all to one solid mass. This is a road 
made for ever. 

Travelers of to-day who use the National Road, and 
study the massive stone bridges by which it passes over the 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 65 

streams along the way, will feel like echoing the words of 
the English traveler. 

Five years after Mr. Cobbett's journey, W. Faux,* an 
English farmer who had promised a friend to pay a visit 
to a friend's son, an emigrant in Illinois, wrote, on the day 
he began the ascent of the Alleghenies : 

All here is wild, awfully precipitous, and darkly umbrage- 
ous, high as the heavens, or low as perdition. I almost re- 
solved on not returning this way by mail, which keeps one 
in constant alarm, unless the traveler has nerves of iron or 
brass. Such, however, is the expertness of the drivers here 
that there is no ground for real apprehension. 

Another day he wrote: 

On the driver getting down to lock the wheel, the horses 
started, and instantly struck a stump of a tree, and upset 
the mail with a crashing fall, which bruised my side, cut 
my face, and blackened my eyes; the two leaders escaped 
into the forest, and we saw them no more. The driver went 
in pursuit of them, and left me to guard and sleep an hour 
and a half in the damaged vehicle, now nearly bottom up- 
wards. When I awoke it was daylight, and I walked up 
to a farm log-house, the people of which put their heads out 
of the window and thus addressed me, "Stranger, come into 
the fire !" and I went in, without being burned. At five, the 
driver returned, and with two horses only we got under 
weigh. 

In 1828 a traveler ^ told his story of the difficulties and 
privations of the road : 

Nov. 4, Set off from Hagers Town. The Road has been 
constructed by the government and is excessively rough 
and bad. It winds along the sides of the hills, from the 
bights of which you have occasional and extensive views 
of the country. . . . One interminable forest is the whole 
prospect before you without relief or background. 

Our carriage was built after the manner of an English 



56 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Market Cart, the sides protected by a partial covering of 
leather, admitting both wind and rain. Sleeping with my 
head and neck exposed to the draft of wind and rain dur- 
ing the whole night, I was so stiff in the morning as to be 
unable to look in any direction but strait before me. The 
road was bad; one wheel gave way. Fortunately, we 
found a waggon by the road side, from which we borrowed 
a wheel that fitted our carriage exactly, 

Nov, 5, Arrived at Brownsville, prettily situated on one 
of the branches of the Ohio, which we passed in a boat, 
carriage and all. I began to cheer up at the prospect of 
the termination of our journey by land. Tired, stiff- 
necked, and crammed into a waggon. ... I was by no 
means in the best of humor. Our whole journey of to-day 
was employed in ascending and descending the different 
ridges of the Allegany. 

One of the celebrated travelers of early days on the Na- 
tional Road was Joseph Meek, the curious character sent 
from Oregon to seek the aid of President Polk because of 
the anxieties caused by the Cayuse War, After an ad- 
venturous overland journey, and a spectacular trip down 
the Mississippi and up the Ohio, he arrived in Wheeling 
just too late to take the regular stage for Cumberland.^ 

Walking into the stage office, he asked if he might have 
a conveyance. The astonished official looked at the out- 
landish dress of the tall man before him, and asked who 
he was. "I am Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
Plenipotentiary from the Republic of Oregon to the Court 
of the United States," was his reply. Examination of his 
credentials bore out his claim, so an extra coach was ordered 
at once, and he was offered free transportation as far as 
the relay house. Others took advantage of the unexpected 
opportunity to continue their journey, and during the long 
hours on the way Meek told them wonderful tales of the 
frontier. 

Soon after his arrival in Washington, satisfactory ar- 
rangements were made for the government of the new 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 57 

Northwest, and he was sent back, in company with twenty- 
five men, the suite of the new Governor of Oregon. Along 
the National Road the party took their way, and in due 
time they reached the Pacific Coast, 



II. STRUGGLES WITH THE ALLEGHENIES 

Morn on the Alleghenies ! on their side, 
Crossing a rocky promontory's brow, 
That juts out o'er the wilderness below, 
A band of emigrants may be descried. 

Upon the naked promontory's brow 

That overhung the wilderness below, 

The traveler* paused to look upon the scene ; 

The wife upon her husband's arm did lean, 

And he upon his rifle silently. 

Hushed even was happy childhood's morning glee. 

The vastness of the scene weighed down the sense, 

The man felt nothing but his impotence, 

And His supremacy who reigns alone, 

The earth His footstool and the heaven His throne. 

• — Ephraim Peabody. 

A LITTLE north of the road taken by Meek on his way to 
WheeHng was a second route to the Ohio river. Those 
who chose this route went by the old Conestoga road to 
Lancaster, then to Carlisle by a rough track, and on to 
Pittsburg by way of Bedford and Fort Ligonier, or by a 
route which bore to the left, four miles from Bedford, and 
passed through Somerset. This latter road, which was built 
on an old Indian path, was known as the Glade Road. In 
1755, when Braddock was on his way to Pittsburg by 
the lower route, one hundred and fifty men were at work 
cutting a way to Pittsburg through Bedford. The work 
was being done at Braddock's request, that he might have 
a short route for supplies from Philadelphia. When the 
roadmakers were four miles beyond Bedford, they heard 
the news of Braddock's defeat, and discontinued work. 

Later General Forbes led a force of six thousand men 

58 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 59 

along this road, on his way to Fort Du Quesne. From 
Fort Bedford he completed the pathway through the forest, 
over the mountains and along the water courses. One by 
one tremendous obstacles were overcome. The French at 
Fort Du Quesne learned that a man of might was making 
his way to them through the wilderness, and they decided 
that flight would be better than fight; so when General 
Forbes reached Pittsburg he had nothing to do but occupy 
the fort in peace. Thus, as Francis Parkman says. General 
Forbes "opened the great West to English enterprise, took 
from France half her savage allies, and relieved the western 
borders from the scourge of Indian War." 

This northern route, with its branches, known as the 
Forbes Road, the Raystown Road, the Glade Road, or the 
Turkey Foot Road (because it touched the forks of the 
Youghiogheny, which were arranged like the toes of a 
turkey), became the highway for soldiers, the route of ad- 
venturers, the pathway of emigrants whose eyes were fixed 
on Wheeling or Pittsburg and the country beyond these 
settlements. As is indicated by the stories of some of the 
emigrants (quoted later in the chapter), the Pennsylvania 
State Road gradually replaced the Glade Road. In many 
places the routes were identical. 

An early traveler "' by this upper road to the Ohio gave 
this table of stations and distances: 

Philadelphia to Lancaster 66 

To Middle-town 26 

To Harris' Ferry 10 

To Carlisle 17 

To Shippenburg 21 

To Chamber'stown 11 

To Fort Loudon 13 

To Fort Littleton , 18 

To Juniata Creek 19 

To Bedford 14 

To Foot of the Allegany Mountain 15 

To Stony Creek 15 



60 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

To East side Laurel Hill 12 

To Fort Ligonier 9 

To Pittsburgh 54 

Total , 320 

When the road through these stations was a mere path 
through the forest, impassable for wagons, hundreds and 
thousands of pack-horses threaded their way single file 
along the narrow track. Usually there were but from ten to 
fifteen horses in a company, for this was all that two men 
could manage ; one of these men went in advance, while the 
other brought up the rear. 

The track had become a road when, on April 4, 1785, 
Laurence Butler ^ set out from Pennsylvania to Virginia to 
survey the lands given by Virginia to the Revolutionary 
soldiers. His own portion as a captain was four thousand 
acres, and he was eager to view his estate. One day he 
wrote : 

Crossed a mountain called the Blue Ridge which is only 
passable at certain places. . . . We travelled through a 
mountainous country of about eighty miles and crossed a 
number of little rivers, some of which we were obliged to 
swim over on our horses, having no ferries, to the foot of 
the largest mountain in North America called the Alligany. 
This mountain is 64 miles over, though there are several 
small rivers in it. When we reached the top of the moun- 
tain we found the snow to be three feet deep, which was on 
the 15th April, and before we got there saw no snow at 
all. Our horses could hardly travel, and as we descended 
the mountain the snow grew less and less, and before we 
arrived at the bottom there was none at all. The rivers in 
the mountain were very full of water, on account of the 
snow melting, which obliged us to swim several of them, as 
there were no boats and very few inhabitants on this cold 
mountain. We were obliged to make fires at night, and 
lay out of doors on the blankets which we carried with us. 
About the 17th we arrived at a river called the Mononga- 
halia which was about 400 yards wide and runs into the 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 61 

Ohio. We travelled about 300 miles and then fell in with 
eight gentlemen who were bound for this new country; 
among them were several brother officers who had served 
in our army in last war. Workmen were engaged to build 
us a boat forty-two feet long and fourteen feet wide which 
was finished in two days. We left that place about the end 
of April; there were ten of us in the boat, with as many 
horses. The next day about sunset we arrived at a town 
called Fort Pitt. 

The adventures of John Filson ^ on this road in 1785 
are typical of the experiences of the pioneers on their 
journey to Pittsburg: 

In the spring of 1785 he secured a Jersey wagon with a 
canvas top for the purpose of transporting himself and such 
articles as he wanted to carry with him to Kentucky. It 
seems that he had but one horse to draw his wagon built 
for two, and consequently he made arrangements with John 
Rice Jones, a young lawyer who wished to go to Kentucky, 
to use a horse belonging to Jones in his team and furnish 
seats in the wagon for the wife and child of Jones. With 
the Joneses as passengers and their luggage added to some 
books and maps and other articles of his own for freight, 
the vehicle set out from Wilmington April 25, 1785, and 
arrived at Philadelphia the same day. On the following 
day it started on the long, weary, mountainous road to 
Pittsburg. 

He reached Pittsburg on May 26, and the fact that 
twenty-six days were consumed in making the trip affords 
some idea of the difficulties of travel in those days. The 
average distance made per day was about twelve miles, and 
the members of the party were thankful to accomplish that 
much in the midst of the obstacles that beset them. No 
wonder Jones was out of sorts when he reached Pittsburg. 
Filson had to doctor him, which he did by administering 
two doses of Peruvian bark, and two "vomits," for which 
he charged nine shillings. 



62 OX THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Jones later told of Filson that on one occasion "while 
their wagon was crossing the mountains, Filson. being in 
front and leading the horses, stooped down to examine a 
curious sod. . . . One of the horses passed on each side of 
him, and the wagon went over him until the rear axletree 
was above his head. Filson threw up his head, which, com- 
ing in contact with the axletree, pretty nearly made an end 
of him. He was almost scalped, and made the balance of 
the way to Pittsburgh with a bandaged head." 

On September ij, 1787, Mrs. Mary De Wees ^'^ set out 
from Philadelphia for Kentucky. She was not in good 
health, and her friends feared that she would never reach 
her journey's end, yet the trip proved to be the ver\- tonic 
she needed. Her condition is apparent from her statement, 
as written to a friend in Philadelphia : 

Lost all the fine prospects the first day owing to my 
sickness, which was excessive, being obliged to be led from 
the Waggon to the bed and from the bed to the Waggon. 

On October 2 she told of improvement: 

Will you believe me when I tell you I am setting on the 
Banks of the Susquehannah and can take my bit of ham 
and Biscuit with any of them. 

Later she wrote : 

Set ofif for the North ^lountain, which we find so bad 
we are Obliged to foot it up, and could compair ourselves 
to nothing but a parcel of goats. . . . Find this the most 
fatiguing days Journey we have had. the roads so very 
bad and so very steep, that the horses seem ready to fall 
backwards. In many places, you would be surprised to see 
the Children Jumping and Skiping, sometimes quite ovit oi 
sight, sometimes on horseback, sometimes in the Waggon. 
. . . The sight of a log house on these Mountains after a 
fatiguing days Journey affords more real pleasure than all 
the magnificent buildings your city contains. 

October 9. Crossed Sidling hill and were the greatest 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 63 

part of the day in performingf the Journey, the roads being 
so excessive Steep, sidhng and Stony, that it seemed im- 
possible to get along, ^^'e were obHged to walk the greatest 
part of tlie way up, tho' not without company : there was 
five waggons with us all this morning to different parts. 
This night our difficulties began : we were obliged to put 
up at a cabin at the foot of the hill, perhaps a dozen logs 
upon one another, with a few slabs for a roof, and the 
earth for a floor, and a Wooden Chimney constituted this 
extraordinar\' Ordinary. . . . There were between twenty 
and thirty of us. all lay on the floor, [except three, who had 
a bed.] 

October ii. Fell in with a French Gentleman and his 
family going to Pittsburgh ; we all put up at a little hut on 
the ^lountain. which was so small that we prefferred lodg- 
ing in our waggon to be crowded with Frenchmen and 
negroes on an earthen floor. 

October 13. We in Company with another Waggon 
were obliged to Encamp in the woods, after a Suitable 
place at a Convenient distance from a run of water was 
found, a level piece of ground was pitched upon for our 
encampment. Our men went to give refresliment to the 
Horses, we Females, having had a good fire made up, set 
about preparing Supper, which consisted of an Excellent 
dish of Coft'ee. having milk with us, those who chose had 
a dish of cold ham and pickled beets, with the addition of 
Bread. Butter. Biscuit and Cheese, made up our repast. 
After supper. Sister, the children and myself took up our 
lodging in the waggon, the men with their Blankets laid 
down at the fireside. 

October 15. You would be surprised to see the number 
of packhorses which travel these roads, ten or twelve in a 
drove. In going up the Xonh Mountain. Betsy took it into 
her head to ride a horseback, and Daddy undertook to 
escort her on his. In a narrow path, at the edge of a very 
steep place, they met with a company of packers, when her 
horse took it into his noodle not to stir one foot, but stood 
and received a thump behind from every pack that pass'd, 
and whilst Betsy was in a state of the greatest trepidation, 
expecting ever}- moment to be thrown from her horse, her 



64 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Gallant instead of flying to her assistance, stood laughing 
ready to kill himself at the fun; but the poor girl really 
looked pitiable. 

At the mouth of the Youghiogheny the party took boat 
to Pittsburg, where they waited for the wagons with the 
rest of the family goods. 

The year after Mrs. De Wees made her trip to Pitts- 
burg Colonel Israel Shreve, father of Henry M. Shreve, 
for whom Shreveport, Louisiana, was named, traveled from 
his New Jersey home to Philadelphia, and from there to 
Pittsburg. In his party were a number of men, women and 
children, who made use of four two-horse wagons and two 
three-horse wagons. Four cows followed the wagons. 

On July lo Colonel Shreve wrote in his Journal :^^ 

"13^ miles only, occasioned by bad Roads and Crossing 
the South Mountain and one of my waggons . . . over- 
setting, bottom upwards, to-day the women were much 
fatigued by walking. Sarah Hervey walked eight and a 
half miles over the Hill at one heat." 

Extracts only of the journal follow: 

July II. Set out and passed over Roads full of bad 
mud-holes . . . hindered this morning by getting clasps 
put round the felloe of a wheel. 

July 12. Paraded our beds in a barn. 

July 14. Forded a rapid Creek called Yellow Breeches. 

July 16. When we dined at Tavern we always made use 
of our own provision. Set out again in a hard rain, by ad- 
vice took the right hand road that leads over the three 
hills, lately opened and made by a Mr. Skinner from Jersey. 

July 17. All in good health and high spirits. . . . Set 
out and ascended the first Mountain so steep that we were 
obliged to double the team to get up and very stony going 
down the other side ... 8 miles to-day. 

July 18. Set out again and rose the second hill called 
the North Mountain, this as steep and stony as the first. 
. . . Coming down the last Hill Daniel Hervey left his 
stallion to follow the waggon, the horse took an old path 




THE FIRST PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON 

From "The Magazine of American History" 




I'roni Srlioolrrdff'n " II inloriral Coiidilloiis ami J'rusixrl.s 
of lite Indians in the Unilcd States" 



I'lTTHIIUllO IN 17i)() 



MAHk'KR (IN Till: «' ll,lli:ilN i:SS ItOAl) 

J'holoi/rdpli III/ I he United l^liites 
Forest {-lerxHee 





lABLKT AT THK JIC^.MK Ol .MAJOK Altllll li SI'. (I.AIH, 
N'EAR GREEXSBUHG, PENNSYLVANIA 




(»l I) l-OItT (JADDIS, Nl; \l 




HENRY CLAY MONUMENT AT EI.M GROVE, WEST VIRGINIA 

(Built to oonimemorate liis work for the National Road) 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 65 

and caused several hours search before he was found 
stripped of all his gears but the collar. . . . Had the mis- 
fortune to break one of my Waggon wheels, sent it on this 
evening to be repaired, 8 miles only today: This is the place 
called the Burnt Cabins, where the road that passes through 
Chambers Town comes into the old Road said to be twenty 
miles farther than the new one but much better. . . . Our 
women complain heavily on account of being obliged to 
walk on foot over the Mountain. 

July 20. Sent the repaired wheel to the Waggon, About 
eleven o'clock had a further hindrance by having three 
shoes put on, heavy complaints among the Women. 

July 21. Set out and ascended Sideling Hill up a good 
new Road made by said Skinner* . . . Went on over ex- 
ceedingly stony roads to Rays Hill. Here cut saplings 
and chained to our Waggons, this hill steep, gullied, and 
very stony. Skinners men at work making a new Road 
down . . . one felloe of one of my Waggons gave way. 

July 22. Passed through Bedford, halted for a horse 
shoe . . . halted at John Bonnet's Tavern at the forks of 
the old Pennsylvania and Glade Roads, 15 miles to-day. 

July 24. Ann Beck daughter of Joseph Beck departed 
this life to the great grief of her parents, more so on ac- 
count of being far distant from their former home. 

July 25. Send to Berlin for a Cofifin which arrived to- 
wards evening when the child was decently interred. . . . 

July 26. Hired George Pancakes and two horses to put 
before my heaviest waggon for 8/4 per day and find him 
and horses. Set out, halted at a Blacksmiths, had two 
clasps put on my Waggon wheel and one horse shoe put on. 

July 27. Set out and after going a few hundred yards 
missed the most material part of Daniel Harvey's property, 
it having gone before and taken a wrong road, a hue and 
cry was raised when to his great joy it was found unhurt. 
. . . Ascended to the top of the Mountain over miry and 
stony Roads, then soon began to descend, first down a short 
steep hill, then a long, gradual descent through Chestnut 

* The road work done by INIr. Skinner was paid for by the State. 
The road over North Mountain cost £700, while that over Sideling 
Hill cost £750. 



66 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Brush, . . . this Road down is over logs and stones enough to 
dash all to pieces : at length we arrived at a house in Lege- 
near Valley. . . . Our women exceedingly fatigued by 
walking over the Mountain. 

July 28. Set out again and found the steepest hill we 
had met with, in going up Chestnut Hill were obliged to 
put six horses to one of the heaviest waggons. Descend 
the Ridge and come into the other road, which is so miry 
as to sink the waggons in many places, stopped at a Black- 
smith and had one shoe put on one of my horses. Set out 
again and met Joseph Wood on his way to Jersey from 
Little Kenhaway, he informed me that a house was ready 
for me in the forks of Youghiana, went on and was over- 
taken by John Fox with the intelligence that one of Daniel 
Harvey's Waggons had broke down. . , . D, Harvey last 
evening in coming from his Waggon to Mr. Bennetts, got 
out of the Road, it being very dark he could not find it 
again and was forced to take up his lodging in the Woods 
until day. 

' July 29. Sent for D. Harvey's broken waggon and got 
a new axle-tree put in. We are now clear of the Moun- 
tains over which we have with much difficulty got so far 
safely except the misfortune of losing the child. 

August I. All well, after a very fatigueing journey of 
25 days since leaving Jersey. The house provided for me 
is a new one, 30 feet by 26, two stories high, built of hewed 
white oak logs, with a very good stone chimney. The 
house is not finished, no family having lived in it till we 
came. We set to, stopped it with lime and clay, laid the 
upper floor with Chirety [cherry?] boards, and it is now 
pretty comfortable for Summer. 

As to the inhabitants, they are mostly from Jersey, very 
kind to new comers, as well as to one another; they live in 
a plain way, not spending much in Dress and foppery, but 
are well provided with the real necessaries of life. 

On December 26, 1789, Colonel Shreve wrote to his 
brother from "Forks of Yough," that he had obtained the 
whole tract of Washington's Bottoms, on rent, for five 
years. "The General was pleased to let me have the whole 



" THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 67 

of the Bottoms at my own offer. . . . The old farm con- 
tains about 80 acres of improved upland, and about 40 of 
the best kind of meadow, a bearing orchard of 120 apple 
and 100 peach trees: the buildings as good as most in this 
Country . . . and four other improved farms, that at this 
time rent for £43/10. I am accountable for the whole rent 
which altogether is £60." 

His reasons for making the lease he gave thus : 1 

I considered that land at the Miami Settlement was ris- 
ing fast, and that I had better pay this low rent for a well 
improved farm than barter away my land at a low rate 
for land here — Land does not rise much in this place, owing 
to the general emigration down the River. It seems as if 
people were crazy to get afloat on the Ohio. Many, having 
very good livings here, set out for they know not where, 
but too often find their mistake. 

On Monday, April 14, 1788, Colonel John May ^^ set 
out on horseback, in company with two companions, "And 
. . . stood for the wilderness of the Western World." 

He told of ascending the "South or Blue Mountain, 
which, at a distance, has a terrible appearance to a stranger 
tired and worn down by constant fatigue. But the more 
we approach it the less formidable it appears. Instead of 
climbing this son of Alleghana, we steal in imperceptibly 
between two monstrous hills for a number of miles; but 
finally have to climb stoutly ere we reach the top. While 
ive are between these hills . . . w^e advance by the side of 
a swift running rivulet for a considerable distance, and 
cross the same stream, in a distance of two miles, twelve 
times. . . ." 

From Mercersburg, at the foot of North Mountain, 
Colonel May mounted his horse, "in order to mount the 
mountain." "This mountain is ten miles over," he con- 
tinued. "It took us three hours and a half to cross it. It 
is, I can truly say, the hardest to climb we have yet at- 
tempted, and makes one of the four capital ranges of moun- 



68 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

tains which belong to the family of Alleghana, and the sight 
of which generally strikes such terror into travelers. This, 
with his father and mother, separate the Eastern from the 
Western world. The names of this ancient family are: 
Alleghana, North Mountain, South Mountain, Sideling 
Ridge, Laurel Mountain, and Chestnut Ridge." 
The story of the journey continued : 

May 3. At 10 o'clock to-day we were on the ridge-pole, 
and Noah-like, could look into the old world and new. 
These mountains I consider as the backbone of the con- 
tinent, this tremendous range reaching from Cape Horn 
to the North Pole . . . and so high is it that it is itself 
fixed on the top of the everlasting hills. 

F. A. Michaux,^^ a French traveler, who went this way 
in 1802, would have been able to sympathize with the 
women in Colonel Shre\'e's party who had to walk over the 
mountain. He rode by stage as far as Shippensburg, but 
there it became necessary to proceed by his own convey- 
ance. He tried to buy a horse, but was disgusted by the 
avarice of natives, who, taking advantage of travelers, 
sought to make them pay more than double. At length he 
bought an animal, in partnership with an American officer, 
who had been a fellow traveler on the stage. The men 
agreed to ride and walk by turns. 

George Imlay, when passing through Pennsylvania, had 
his share of trouble with conveyances, and he thought it 
worth while to write,^* for the benefit of those who should 
come after him, full directions as to conveyance. He said : 

Travelers or emigrants take different methods of trans- 
porting^ their baggage, goods, or furniture, from the places 
they may be at to the Ohio, according to circumstances, or 
their object in coming to the country. For instance, if a 
man is traveling only for curiosity, or has no family or 
goods to remove, his best way would be to purchase a horse 
and take the route through the Wilderness; but provided 
he has a family, or goods of any sort to remove, his best 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 69 

way then would be to purchase a waggon and team of 
horses to carry his property to Redstone Olde Forte, or to 
Pittsburg. . . . The waggon may be covered with canvas, 
and, if it is the choice of the people, they may sleep in it at 
night with the greatest safety. But if they should dislike 
that, there are inns of accommodation the whole distance 
on the different roads. ... By having two or three camp 
kettles, and stopping every evening when the weather is 
fine upon the bank of some rivulet, and by kindling a fire, 
they may soon dress their food. . . . True, the charges at 
inns on those roads are remarkably reasonable, but I have 
mentioned these particulars as there are many unfortunate 
people in the world to whom the saving of every shilling is 
an object. 

One of the most interesting narratives of experiences in 
crossing Pennsylvania is that of Margaret Dwight,^^ the 
niece of President Timothy Dwight, of Yale College, who 
in 1810 went by wagon from New Haven to Warren, Ohio, 
in the party of Deacon Wolcott and his wife and daughter. 
The route taken was by way of Easton and Bethlehem to 
Carlisle. 

At a tavern on the way an old lady asked, "Well, Gals, 
where are you going?" "To New Connecticutt," was the 
reply. "You bant tho," was the surprised rejoinder. "Why 
what a long journey! Do you ever expect to get there? 
How far is it?" "Near 600 miles," she was told. "Your 
husbands with you?" was the next question. "No, ma'am," 
came the answer. At this the old lady could not contain 
herself. "Not got your husbands!" she said. "Well, I 
don't know — they say there's wild Indians there." 

Concerning an inn Miss Dwight wrote: 

The house is very small & very dirty — It serves for a 
tavern, a store, & I should imagine hog's pen stable & 
everything else. The air is so impure I have scarcely been 
able to swallow since I enter'd the house. Every kind of 
thing in the room where they live — a chicken half picked 
hangs over the door & pots, kettles, dirty dishes, potatoe 



70 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

barrels & every thing else & the old woman it is beyond my 
power to describe her. She is a fat, dirty, ugly looking 
creature, yet I must confess very obliging. . . . Our room 
is just large enough to contain a bed, a chair and a very 
small stand — our bed has one brown sheet «& one pillow — 
the sheet however appear'd to be clean, which was more 
than we got at Nash's — there we were all obliged to sleep in 
the same room without curtain or any other screen & our 
sheets there were so dirty I was afraid to sleep there. 

A few days later this entry was made in the Journal : 

I am almost discouraged — we shall never get to New 
Connecticutt or anywhere else, at the rate we go on. We 
went but eleven miles yesterday & 13 to-day. 

When the party was ten miles west of Carlisle she wrote : 

We came but a little peice, as the Dutchmen say, today, 
& are in a most curious place tonight. If possible I will 
describe it. It is a log hut built across the road from the 
tavern, for movers — that the landlord need not be bother'd 
with them. Had it been possible for our horses to have 
reached another inn we should not have staid with the cross 
old dutch fellow — we have a good fire, a long dirty table, 
a few boards nailed up for a closet, a dozen long boards in 
one side & as many barrels in the other — 2 benches to set 
on, two bottomless chairs, & a floor containing dirt enough 
to plant potatoes. The man says he has been so bothered 
with movers, that he has taken down his sign, for he does 
not need his tavern to live. If we had a mind to stay we 
might, but if we chose to go on he had no objection. 

Of another experience she said: 

. . . Last night Susan & I went to bed early, as we slept 
ill the night before ... we were put in an old garret that 
had holes in the roof big enough to crawl through. Our 
bed was on the floor, harder it appear'd to me, than boards 
could be & dirty as possible — a dirty feather bed our only 
covering. 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 71 

After crossing one of the Allegheny Mountains, she said : 

We all walk'd the whole distance over — I did not stop 
at all to rest till I reach'd the top ... It is not a little 
fatiguing to walk up a long mountain I find — When we had 
nearly reach'd the foot of it, we heard some music in the 
valley below . . . soon found it was from the bells of a 
waggoner — He had twelve bells on the collars of his horses, 
(not sleigh bells) & they made a great variety of sounds 
which were really musical at a distance. 

This was written of an adventure at a roadside inn: 

... I was very much frightened by a drunken wag- 
goner, who came up to me, as I stood by the door, ... he 
put his arm round my neck, & said something which I was 
too frightened to hear. It is the first time the least insult has 
been offered to any of us. 

Other illuminating entries in the Journal may be quoted : 

We have concluded the reason so few are willing to 
return from the Western Country is not that the country 
is so good, but because the journey is so bad. 

. . . The stream runs so fast, that we did not dare cross 
it alone, as there was nothing but a log to cross on ; so the 
waggoners & our own party were obliged tO' lead & pilot 
us over the stream & thro' a most shocking place as ever 
I saw. 

. . . They say there has been a heap of people moving 
this fall; I don't know exactly how many a heap is, or a 
sight either, which is another way of measuring people — I 
would be apt to think it was a terrible parcel, to use the 
language of the people round me. 

. . . From what I have seen and heard, I think the State 
of Ohio will be well fill'd before winter, — Waggons with- 
out number every day go on. One went on containing forty 
people — We almost every day see them with i8 or 20 — 
one stopt here to-night with 21. 

Three years after Miss D wight's passage over the moun- 
tain B. H. Latrobe took his family from Washington to 



72 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Pittsburg, where he was to build the Buffalo, the fourth 
steamer on the Ohio. His son, John, then thirteen years 
old, remembered the journey so well that in later years he 
was able to write: ^^ 

The journey began in our own carriage, drawn by Pea- 
cock and Turkey, two stout bay horses that had been for 
some years in service. And this carriage deserves descrip- 
tion. It had been built after a design of my father and its 
color was a dark olive green. It had the usual seats for 
four persons vis-a-vis, and the driver's seat was under the 
same roof. But instead of giving him the entire width of 
the seat a semi-circular space in the centre was surrounded 
with a back, elbow high, on either side of which were nooks 
that we children called "nests" and which we occupied with 
our backs to the horses and our feet over the front seat. 
This gave us a capital chance to talk with David, the coach- 
man, a jet black little fellow who drove for my father as 
long as the latter had horses to drive. To obviate the possi- 
bility of one of us children falling out of the usual side 
door, while leaning against it to look out, my father put 
the door behind, making it necessary to scramble over the 
hind seat to get into the carriage. The curtains were of 
leather, and were so contrived that by an ingenious arrange- 
ment of pulleys, they could be drawn into the roof instead 
of being fastened at the edges in the usual way. In the 
bottom of the vehicle was a well, a good sized box that could 
be lifted out, its cover forming a part of the floor. It was 
waterproof, as it needed to be when the carriage was cross- 
ing fordable streams. I am particular in this description 
because of the impression left on my memory of its re- 
markable contrivances. 

My impression is that the first stage of our journey was 
Montgomery Court-House, from which we dragged through 
the long and wearying distance to Pittsburgh. After pass- 
ing through Boonsboro on the National Road we had noth- 
ing better than the common country roads to travel on, and 
how we pulled through them with the same pair of horses 
is to this day to me a wonder. It rained nearly every day. 
Sometimes we would lay by to rest the horses, sometimes 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 73 

have to pass into the fields to avoid the mudholes of the 
road. I fell sick of fever and ague and shook and burned 
alternately for days. 

The journey made in May, 1817, by Morris Birkbeck, 
English emigrant, began at Norfolk, Virginia, where he 
landed. An interesting glimpse of one method of trans- 
portation, as well as of expense, is afforded by his state- 
ment that from Richmond to Fredericksburg he went in 
*'two hacks, which are light coaches with two horses, a 
Jersey waggon, and one horse for the baggage." The trip 
required two days, and the expense was, for the carriage, 
$70, and on the road $33. "This for nine persons amounts 
to 52 shillings each," the emigrant recorded in his diary.-^^ 
Then he made the comment, "dear, but very agreeable 
traveling." 

The next hint as to the road is given six days later at 
McConnel's Town: "The road we have been traveling 
terminates at this place, where it strikes the great turnpike 
from Philadelphia to Pittsburg; and with the road ends the 
line of stages by which we have been traveling; a circum- 
stance of which we knew nothing until our arrival here, 
having entered ourselves as passengers at Georgetown, for 
Pittsburg, by the Pittsburg stage, as it proposed to be." 

So here we are, nine in number, one hundred and thirty 
miles of mountainous country between us and Pittsburg. 
We learn that the stages which pass daily from Philadel- 
phia and Baltimore are generally full, and that there are 
now many persons waiting at Baltimore for places; no 
vehicles of any kind to be hired, and here we must either 
stay or walk off: the latter we prefer; and separating, each 
our bundle, from the little that we had of travelling stores, 
we are to undertake our mountain pilgrimage, accepting the 
alternative most cheerfully, after the dreadful shaking of 
the last hundred miles by stage. 

The English emigrant was amazed when he saw how 
many companions he had on the road. "We have now 



74 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

fairly turned our backs on the old world," he said, "and 
find ourselves in the very stream of emigration. Old 
America seems to be breaking up, and moving westward. 
We are seldom out of sight, as we travel on this grand 
track towards the Ohio, of family groups behind, and 
before us, some with a view to a particular spot, close to 
a brother, perhaps, or a friend who has gone before, and 
reported well of the country; many, like ourselves, when 
they arrive in the wilderness will find no lodge prepared 
for them." 
The account proceeded; 

A small waggon so light that you might almost carry it, 
yet strong enough to bear a good load of bedding and 
utensils, and provisions, and a swarm of young citizens, 
and to sustain marvellous shocks in the passage over these 
rocky heights, with 2 small horses and sometimes a cow or 
two, comprise their all: excepting a little store of hard 
earned cash for the land office of the district, where they 
may obtain title for as many acres as they possess half dol- 
lars, being one-fourth of the purchase money. The waggon 
has a tilt or cover, made of a sheet or perhaps a blanket. 
The family are seen before, behind, or within the vehicle, 
according to the road or the weather or perhaps the spirits 
of the party. The New Englanders, they say, may be 
known by the cheerfulness of the women advancing in 
front of the vehicle; the Jersey people by their being fixed 
steadily within it; while the Pennsylvanians creep lingering 
behind, as though regretting the homes they have left. A 
cart and single horse frequently afford the means of trans- 
fer; sometimes a horse and pack saddle. Often the back of 
the poor pilgrim bears all his effects, and his wife follows 
bare-footed. 

The startled traveler could not help saying of the 
Americans : 

They are also a migrating people; and even when in 
prosperous circumstances can contemplate a change of 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 75 

situation which, under our old establishments and fixed 
habits, none but the most enterprising would venture upon 
when urged by adversity. To give an idea of the internal 
movements of this vast hive, about 12,000 waggons passed 
between Baltimore and Philadelphia, and this place, in the 
last year, with from four to six horses carrying from 35 to 
40 cwt. The cost of carriage is about seven dollars per cwt. 
from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and the money paid for 
the conveyance of goods on the road exceeded £300,000 
sterling. 

Add to these the numerous stages loaded to the utmost, 
and the innumerable travellers on horseback, on foot, and 
in light waggons, and you have before you a scene of bustle 
and business, extending over a space of three hundred 
miles, which is truly wonderful. 

At Pittsburg horses were bought, and the party set out 
for Cincinnati by land. "Well mounted and well furnished 
with saddle bags and blankets, we proceeded, nine in party, 
on our westward course to W^ashington, Pennsylvania," 
Mr. Birkbeck wrote. 

One day in Ohio a visit was paid to the log farm-house 
of an Irishman who had taken up the land fourteen years 
before, along a blazed road, across the wilderness. His 
evident prosperity and content pleased the man who was 
making a like venture. 

Near Zanesville, Ohio, the party was greeted by "four 
industrious pedestrians, returning eastward from a tour of 
observation through this state." Evidently they had been 
prospecting. "One of them, a hatter, resolves to remain in 
his old position in Philadelphia." 

When at Madison, Indiana, Mr. Birkbeck wrote, "Our 
road has been mostly from three to six miles from the river, 
passing over fertile hills and alluvial bottoms. The whole 
is appropriated; but although settlements multiply daily, 
many large intervals remain between the clearings." 

Of an experience farther on in Indiana this account was 
given : 



76 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Our rear party, consisting of one of the ladies, a servant 
boy, and myself, were benighted in consequence of an ac- 
cidental detention, at the foot of one of these rugged hills; 
and witliout being well provided, were compelled to make 
our first experiment of "camping out." A traveller in the 
woods should always carry flint, steel, tinder, and matches ; 
a few biscuits, a half pint phial of spirits, and a tin cup, a 
large knife or tomahawk; with them and his two blankets 
and his great coat and umbrella, he need not be uneasy 
should any unforeseen delay require his sleeping under a 
tree. ' 

But the tinder and matches were in the baggage of the 
advance division, and the night was dark and rainy. Al- 
ready, however, the English was learning to be re- 
sourceful. Taking his powder flask, he moistened a piece 
of paper and rubbed it with gunpowder. This touch paper 
was placed on an old handkerchief. On this gunpowder 
was scattered. Flint and steel soon brought a flame, wood 
was ignited, and a fire was built. 

In spite of such misadventures, Mr. Birkbeck said, when 
near the end of his long journey : 

As to travelling in the backwoods of America, I think 
there is none so agreeable, after you have used yourself to 
repose on your own pallet either on the floor of a cabin 
or under the canopy of the woods, with an umbrella over 
your head and a noble fire at your feet. You will then 
escape the only serious nuisances of American travelling, i 
viz. hot rooms and swarming beds, exceeding, instead of j 
repairing, the fatigues of the day. Some difficulties occur 
from ferries, awkward fords, and rude bridges, with oc- 
casional swamps; but such is the sagacity and surefooted- 
ness of the horses that accidents happen very rarely. 

At Shawneetown the Englishman paid 720 dollars, one- 
fourth of the purchase money of 1440 acres in what is now 
Edwards County, Illinois. His reason for pushing on so 
far West he gave in a later volume:*^ 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 77 

Had we remained in the state of Ohio we must have 
paid from twenty to fifty dollars per acre for land which 
is technically called "improved," but is in fact deteriorated; 
or have purchased, at an advance of looo or 1500 per cent 
unimproved land from speculators; and in either case 
should have labored under the inconvenience of settling 
detached from society of our own choice, and without the 
advantage of choice as to soil or situation. We saw many 
eligible sites and fine tracts of country, but these were pre- 
cisely the sites and the tracts which had secured the attach- 
ment of their possessors. . . . 

Having given up the Ohio, we found nothing attractive 
on the eastern side of Indiana; and situations to the south, 
on the Ohio river bounding that state, were so well culled 
as to be in the predicament above described; offering no 
room for us without great sacrifice of money and society. 
The western side of Indiana, on the banks of the Wabash, 
is liable to the same and other objections. The northern 
part of Indiana is still in possession of the Indians. 

But a few miles farther west opened our way into a 
country preferable in itself to any we had seen, where we 
could choose for ourselves, and to which we could invite 
our friends; and where, in regard to communication with 
Europe, we could command equal facilities, and foresee 
greater, than in the state of Ohio, being much nearer the 
grand outlet at New Orleans. 

I expect to see around me in prosperity many of my old 
neighbors, whose hard fare has often embittered my own 
enjoyment. Three of them have already made the effort, 
and succeeded in getting out to us. This delights us. . . . 
Two more are waiting at Philadelphia for an invitation 
which is now on its way. They wept at parting with their 
companions who are now here, but they waited further, 
thinking they would never reach our abode "so far west." 

Two brothers, and the wife of one of them . . . have 
made their way out to us . . . They landed at Philadel- 
phia, not knowing where on this vast continent they should 
find us: from thence they were directed to Pittsburg . . . 
at Pittsburg they bought a little boat for six or seven 



78 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

dollars and Came gently down the Ohio, to Shawneetown : 
from there they proceeded on foot till they found us. 

. . . If it were really so unwise to migrate westward, 
out of the tens (I was ^ing to say hundreds) of thousands 
who move annually from the eastern states into this west- 
ern wilderness, we should hear of some returning . . . 

Privations I cannot enumerate. Their amount depends 
on the previous habits and present disposition of in- 
dividuals : for myself and family, the privations already ex- 
perienced or anticipated are of small account compared 
with the advantages. 

Always Mr. Birkbeck was an optimist. Once he owned 
that "roads are in a state of nature," but he added the 
words, "as yet," showing what he expected. Again he said 
"By April next I hope we shall be fixed in our Cabin on the 
prairie; and in two years I hope to see a populous and 
thriving neighborhood, where in July last I couJd not find 
a single inhabitant." 



III. BY STAGE, BY EMIGRANT WAGON, AND ON 

FOOT 

From the close-covered depths of the big wagon-bed 
Peeped out lassie and tiny towhead — 
Half a dozen at least, for the pioneer's wife 
Thought to people the land was a part of her life; 
And they huddled and whispered, and clamored and yelled, 
At the noises they heard and the sights they beheld, 
While the father and mother contentedly strode 
Toward their far-away home — down the National Road. 

— James Ball Naylor. 

In October, 1817, Henry Bradshaw Fearon went over 
the road to Pittsburg. Probably the season was unusually 
bad, for, after crossing the Juniata, he wrote: ^® 

Nothing could exceed the badness of the roads; yet the 
understanding between the driver and his horses was so 
perfect that we proceeded, though with almost broken 
bones, with the exactness of mechanism. A London coach- 
man would in half an hour have dashed the strongest Eng- 
lish stage to pieces, and probably broken the necks of the 
passengers. 

When crossing the Dry Ridge, he spoke of the "great 
numbers of families and stage waggons : some of the former 
were from Maine, and had been out 80 days." 

The progress of the stage was so slow that Mr. Fearon 
proposed walking: 

This afforded me an opportunity of entering into the 
views and little histories of fellow-travellers. . . . The 
women I found the most communicative: their husbands 
being chiefly engaged in dragging along their wretched 
nags. The first I conversed with was from Jersey, out 32 

79 



80 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

days; she was sitting upon a log, which served the double 
purpose of a seat and a fire ; their waggon had broken 
down the day before ; her husband was with it at a distant 
blacksmith's; she had been seated there all night. . . . 

On Laurel Hill, with the thermometer at six degrees 
above zero, he came to a family from Massachusetts who 
had camped out during the night. 

At five o'clock we found them cooking potatoes for 
breakfast. They very freely offered us a portion of their 
homely fare. Perhaps in Essex I should have thought this 
no treat — on Laurel Ridge it was a most acceptable one; 
so naturally does our inclination adapt itself to our cir- 
cumstances. The family consisted of ten persons: an old 
lady, her son and his wife, with seven children, of both 
sexes, from two to sixteen years of age ; all in excellent 
health, and full of life and spirits; despising difficulties, 
and anticipating a rich reward when they arrived in the 
"land of Canaan." 

Next day Mr. Fearon wrote: , 

I came up with a woman and girl, with two infants in 
their arms, who came, to use their own language, "from 
Zomerzetzhire in Hingland." They . . . were sorry they 
had ever been persuaded to leave it; they had been told 
that this was the finest place in the world, but they had ex- 
perienced nothing but difficulties since they had set their 
foot upon it. The husband was behind, dragging on their 
little all. It was 45 days since they had left Philadelphia. 
I assisted them over a brook, and endeavoured to comfort 
them with the hope that when they once got settled they 
would be well repaid for all their toil. 

Glimpses of the amount of travel on the road were given : 

I passed on my road from Chambersburgh to Pittsburgh, 
being 153 miles, one hundred and three stage waggons, 
drawn by four and six horses, proceeding from Philadel- 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEEIJNG 81 

pfiia and Baltimore to Pittsburg — seventy-nine from Pitts- 
burg to Baltimore and Philadelphia, — sixty-three waggons, 
with families, from the several places following: twenty 
from Massachusetts, ten from the district of Maine, four- 
teen from Jersey, twelve from Connecticutt, two from 
Maryland, one from Pennsylvania, one from England, one 
from Holland, and one from Ireland, about two hundred 
persons on horseback, twenty on foot, one beggar, one fam- 
ily with their waggon returning from Cincinnati entirely 
disappointed — a circumstance which, though rare, is by no 
means, as some might suppose, miraculous. 

A few days later the writer left Pittsburg for Ohio, "the 
State in which every emigrant I saw in the Aleganies told 
me he designed settling," he said. Then he added, "While 
there the inhabitants are on 'the move' for Alabama and 
Missouri." 

William Cobbett was another traveler who was loud in 
the praise of the skillful drivers over the Alleghenies. In 
his book ^^ he wrote : 

I can say nothing in Commendation of the road over 
these mountains: but I must admire the drivers and their 
excellent horses. The road is every thing that is bad, but 
the skill of the drivers and the well-constructed vehicles and 
the capital old English horses overcame everything. We 
were rather singularly fortunate in not breaking down, or 
upsetting; I certainly should not have been surprised if 
the whole thing, horse and all, had gone off the road and 
been dashed to pieces. A new road is making, however, 
and when that is completed, the journey west will be shorter 
in point of time, just one half. 

While crossing the Allegheny Mountains Mr. Cobbett 
"got overturned (a common accident here) only once, and 
then received very little damage: myself none, some of my 
fellow travellers a few scratches. We scrambled out, and, 
with the help of some waggoners, set the vehicle on its 
wheels again, adjusted our 'plunder' . . . and drove on 
again without being detained more than five minutes." 



82 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Still another traveler who has left a full account of his 
experience on the road to Pittsburg was James Flint, a 
visitor from England in 1 8 19. At Philadelphia he arranged 
for passage at the Coach-Office for the first stage in his 
journey to Pittsburg. There were so many travelers that 
he was obliged to engage his place days in advance. He 
was rather critical of the coach in which he rode: he 
described it -^ as "a large, clumsy vehicle, carrying twelve 
passengers, greatly encumbered by large bags, and he 
noticed that as a substitute for glass windows, a large roll 
of leather was let down on each side in bad weather." But 
he looked with greater favor on his conveyance when he 
passed the "family waggons" bound westward, in which the 
aged and infants rode, while the young and strong walked. 

At Chambersburg he wrote: 

Several branches of what has been very properly called 
the current of emigration, being here united, strangers 
from the Eastern Country, and from Europe, are passing 
in an unceasing train. An intelligent gentleman, at this 
place, informed me that this stream of emigration has 
flowed more copiously this year than at any former period; 
and that the people now moving westward are ten times 
more numerous than they were ten years ago.* His com- 
putation is founded on the comparative amount of the 
stage-coach business, and on careful observation. . . . The 
gentleman alluded to says that shades of character, sensibly 
different from one another, are forming in the western 
States. He represents the Kentuckians to be a high-toned 
people, who frequently announce their country, as if afraid 
of being mistaken for inhabitants of Ohio State ; and the 
Ohioans as having less pride of country, being less assum- 
ing in their demeanour, but not less agreeable in conversa- 
tion, nor less practical in business transactions. 

Two days later Mr. Flint and two other passengers de- 
cided to walk because they were told that rougher roads 

* This growth in emigration from the East was due, in large meas- 
ure, to the hard times that followed the War of 1812. 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 83 

than any they had experienced were before them. They 
found a waggoner who agreed to carry their equipment to 
Pittsburg. "For my portmanteau, weighing about four- 
teen pounds, he charged three dollars," is the rueful state- 
ment in the letter telling of the day's experiences. 
Of a roadside adventure Mr. Flint wrote: 

At Macconnels Town we knocked at the door of a tavern, 
heard a noise within, which convinced us that the people 
were astir, but not willing to hear us. On making louder 
application, the landlord saluted us : "Who's there ?" With 
some reluctance he let us in, grumbling at the lateness of 
our arrival, it being ten minutes past ten o'clock. He af- 
fected to be unwilling to let us have supper; but while he 
was refusing a female commenced cooking for us. 

Next morning he wrote: 

From beds which we last night saw on the floor of the 
bar-room, a numerous group of Swiss emigrants had risen. 
One of them, an old man with a long beard, has a truly 
patriarchal appearance. The females wore hats, and are 
of a hardy and masculine favor. About a mile from Mac- 
connels Town we met with a foot traveller, who told us 
that he had settled in Illinois, by the Wabash, about fifty 
miles above Vincennes. The ground, he said, "is as good 
as man ever set a foot on." He was on his way to move 
his family from New York State, a journey of 1400 miles. 

Next day, on Sideling Hill, Mr. Flint observed that the 
wagon path was worn into a deep rut or ravine. "The first 
waggoner that gets into the track blows a horn to warn 
others against meeting him in the narrow pass," he wrote. 
While climbing the hill he came up with "a singular party 
of travelers — a man with his wife and three children. The 
eldest of the progeny had the youngest tied on his back, and 
the father pushed a wheelbarrow containing the moveables 
of the family. They were removing from New Jersey . . . 
to Pittsburg. Abrupt edges of rock, higher than the wheel. 



S4 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

occasionally interrupted the passage. Their hiimWe car- 
riage must be lifted over these." A little farther onward he 
passed a young woman carrying a sucking child in her arms, 
and leading a ver\- little one by the hand. 

It was remarked that it was impossiWe to take particular 
notice of all the travelers on the way. "^^"e could scarcely 
look before or behind without seeing some of them." he 
said. "The Canterbur)- pilgrims were not so diversified nor 
so interesting as these." 

Sometimes the night was spent in an inn, 

a log, a frame or a brick house, frequently ^\-ith a wooden 
piazza in front. From the top of a tall post the sign-board 
is suspended. On it. a \\'ashington. a Montgomery-, a 
\\'a>Tie. a Pike or a Jackson is usually pourtrayed, in a style 
that might not be easily deciphered except for the name 
attached. On the top of the house is a small bell, which is 
twice nmg before meals. Immediately after the secvxid 
peal travelers and boarders assemble aroimd the table, 
where they commence eating without preface. 

The lodgings furnished in such a tavern were not alwa>*s 
comfortable. Frequently there were several beds in a room. 
The traveler, acaistomed to the comforts of England, 
thought the fact worth noting that "water is rarely to be 
met with in bedrooms. >\-ashing is, of course performed 
under a shed, behind the bam. or at the pump." but he 
added, "the man who cannot enjoy a pleasant temper under 
privations of a part of the comforts of a more advanced 
state of society, is surely to be pitied for having business in 
the backwoods of America." 

Many nights were spent by the roadside, wrapped in 
Wankets which were carried along the way. At tirst he 
hesitated to sleep out of doors, but when he noted how 
many of the emigrants built their fires and slept by the 
side of the road, he was ready to follow their example. 
To his surprise he foimd this method of passing the night 
preferable to sleeping in an inn where he was always liable 



THROUGH riTTSBURGH AND WHEELING 85 

to have a strange bedfellow taking a place with him during 
the night. 

He met two young men on their way eastward. "You 
are going the wrong way," they were told. "No, you are 
going tlie wrong way," was the reply. "I have been at 
Pittsburg, and in the state of Ohio, and I declare it is the 
most detestable country in the world." 

One day at dark the travelers "came into a track so wet 
and miry that it would be considered impassable in some 
parts of the world." "W'e groped our way along the side 
of it," the traveler wrote, "over logs, and occasionally 
tlirough the wood, to avoid the humid bog. Two young 
men of the neighborhood came forward, told us that we 
had just entered the worst part of the road, and as they 
were going in the same direction, offered to conduct us. 

The next tavern is one where whisky is sold, but the 
occupiers of it could not l>e troubled with lodging travelers. 
They told us that there is another tavern a mile for- 
ward. . . . 

The other tavern was so completely thronged with 
movers that a multitude of them had taken up their lodg- 
ings in a barn. We were permitted to stop, on condition of 
all three sleeping in one bed, which was said to be a large 
and gcxxl one. Two-thirds of the bar-room tloor was cov- 
ered by the beds of weary travellers lying closely side by 
side, and the remaining part occupied by people engaged in 
drinking, and noisy conversation. The room in which sup- 
per was taken was too small to admit any large proportion 
of the company at once. 

On September 24 he wrote : 

At half past twe all were in bustle, preparing for the 
road. Some settling their bill with the hostess, others wait- 
ing to settle: Some round a long wooden trough at the 
pump, washing or dr\-ing themselves with tlieir pocket- 
handkerchiefs. . . . Some women, catching children who 
had escaped naked from bed, others packing up their clothes 
or putting them into waggons. 



86 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

The new road from Philadelphia to Pittsburg is now in 
an advanced stage of progress. Much of it is finished, and 
corresponding parts of the old track abandoned. Probably, 
by two years hence, the traveller will have a turnpike from 
the one city to the other. The improvement is important, 
but it is not one that deserves unqualified praise. In multi- 
tudes of cases it passes through hollows, and over eminences, 
without regard to that minimum of inequality which in a 
great measure constitutes the value of a road. In some 
cases, the vertical curve, formed by passing over rising 
ground, is so long that, applied laterally, the eminences sur- 
mounted would have been altogether avoided. The road 
from Baltimore to Wheeling, now constructing at the ex- 
pense of the government, is understood to be more judicious- 
ly laid off. Its competition must ere long give the pro- 
prietors of the Philadelphia line an instructive lesson on 
the economical application of labor. 

Yet the very same year Thomas Nuttall, in speaking of 
the completion of the turnpike from Philadelphia to within 
forty miles of Pittsburg, said this would enable Pennsyl- 
vania to compete with the National Road. 

Conditions were somewhat improved when in 1822 or 
1823 Baynard Rush Hall traveled from Philadelphia to 
Pittsburg on his way to Indiana, where he planned to take 
up government land. The narrative of his trip was given 
in a volume published a few years later : ^^ 

From Philadelphia to Pittsburg was formerly a journey 
of days. Hence, to avoid traveling on the Sabbath, it was 
arranged by us to set out at three o'clock A.M. on Monday. 
A porter, however, of the stage-office aroused us at one 
o'clock ; when, hurrying on our garments, we were speedily 
following our baggage trundled by the man in that most 
capacious of one-wheeled carriage — an antiquated wheel- 
barrow. 

Difficulties with the baggage were not over when the 
wheelbarrow reached the stage office. Mr. Hall paid for 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 87 

two seats, for himself and Mrs. Hall, but to his surprise he 
was told that he must pay extra for his wife's baggage; 
evidently a double allowance of baggage was not made on 
two tickets sold together. And when Mrs. Hall's trunk 
was being roped to the rack at the rear of the stage, the rope 
broke, the trunk fell, and the contents were scattered in the 
street. 

The stage "was most judiciously filled with three tiers. 
The lower tier was composed of saddle-bags, valises, small 
trunks and carpet-bags; the second, of human beings sup- 
ported upright by an equal squeeze on all sides ; and then, on 
the condensed laps of the living tier, rested the third tier, 
made up of extra cloaks, some bandboxes and work-baskets, 
several spare hats in pasteboard cases, half a dozen canes and 
umbrellas, and one fowling-piece done up in green baize." 
Of course there was some growling, but the men and 
women, after the manner of crowded passengers in a public 
conveyance, were soon laughing at their discomfort. 

Conditions were still worse when stages were changed at 
Lancaster. The new vehicle was smaller, but there were 
even more passengers than before. "Oh! the cramming — 
the jamming — the bumping about of that night! How we 
practised the indirect style of discontent and cowardice, in 
giving it to the intruders over the shoulders of stage own- 
ers, and agents, and drivers, and horses ! And how that 
crazy, rattling, rickety, old machine rolled and pitched and 
flapped its curtains and walloped us for the abuse, till we 
all were quashed, bruised, and mellowed into a quaking 
lump of passive, untalking, sullen victims!" 

From the hotel in Lancaster the stage "dashed away . . . 
with such vengeance and mischief in the speed that the 
shops ran backward in alarm . . . But the winged horses, 
once beyond Lancaster, turned again into hoofy quadrupeds 
moving nearly three miles per hour." 

Though the stage was crowded, there seemed always to 
be room on the driver's seat for a friend or for an extra 
driver. One of these extra drivers entertained the company 



88 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

by breaking out into a song that was typical of the strange 
unmusical lyrics of these knights of the road: 

Come all ye young people, I'm going for to sing, 

Consarnin' Molly Edwards and her lovyer, Peter King, 

How this young woman did break her lovyer's heart, 

And when he went and hung hisself how hern did in her smart. 

This Molly Edwards she did keep the turnpike gate, 
And travilyers allowed her the most puttiest in our state. 
But Peter for a livin' he did foller the drovyer's life, 
And Molly she did promise him she'd go and be his wife. 

So Peter he to Molly goes as he cums through the gate, 
And says, says he, oh ! Molly, why do you make me wait ? 
I'm done a drovin' hossis and come a courtin' you. 
Why do you sarve me so, as I'm your lovyer true? 

Then Molly she toss'd up her nose and tuk the drovyer's toll, 
But Peter he goes and hangs hisself that night unto a pole, 
And Molly says, says she, I wish I'd been his wife. 
And Peter he come and hanted her the rest of all his life. 

Some time after leaving Chambersburg the stage began 
to lumber up the mountains. The men walked, while the 
women rode. On Cove Mountain Mr. Hall wanted to gaze 
"on the mingled grandeur and beauty of the scene." "Few," 
he said, "are unmoved by the view from that top; as for 
myself I was ravished. Was I not on the dividing ridge 
between two worlds — the worn and faded East, the new 
and magic West? And yet I now felt, and painfully felt, 
that we were bidding adieu to home and entering on the 
untried; still hope was superior to fear, and I was eager 
to pass those other peaks. ..." 

When the stage overtook the waiting male passengers, 
it proceeded down the mountain "with a velocity alarming 
and yet exhilarating to persons unused to the style of a 
mountain driver. The danger is with due care less, indeed, 
than the appearance; yet the sight of the places where 
wagons and stages are said to have tumbled gigantic somer- 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 89 

sets over miniature precipices will force one involuntarily 
to say in a supplicating tone to Jehu, 'Take care driver, 
here's where that stage went over, and poor Mr. Bounce 
was killed !' To this caution Jehu replied, 'Oh ! no danger. 
Besides, he wan't killed — he only smashed his ribs 'gin 
that rock there, and got his arm broke,' and then to quiet 
our fears, he sends forth his endless lash to play a curve or 
two around the ears of the prancing leaders, with a pistol- 
like crack that kindles the fire of the team to fury ; and away 
they all bound making the log crowning the rampart of 
wall tremble and start from its place as the wheels spin 
round within eight inches of the dreaded brink." 

Judge Hall, an English traveler, would have been able to 
appreciate the difficulties of which Baynard Hall wrote, for 
his experience of the road to Pittsburg was gained at about 
the same period. In tlie story of his travels ^^ he said : 

The turnpikes, which have since rendered the passes of 
the mountain so safe and easy were not completed, and if 
I found it toilsome in the extreme to accomplish my 
journey on horseback, you may conceive the almost insur- 
mountable difficulties presented to weary-laden wanderers, 
encumbered with waggons and baggage; yet I found these 
roads crowded with emigrants of every description, but the 
majority were of the poorest class. Here I would meet a 
few lusty fellows, trudging it merrily along; and there a 
family, more embarrassed, and less cheerful; now a gang 
of forty or fifty souls, men, women, and children; and now 
a solitary pedestrian, with his oaken staff, his bottle, and 
his knapsack ; and, once a day, a stage-load of tired travel- 
lers, dragged heavily toward the west. Sometimes I be- 
held a gentleman toiling along with a broken-down vehicle, 
and sometimes encountered the solitary horseman; here I 
espied the wreck of a carriage, or the remains of a meal; 
and there the temporary shelter which had protected the 
benighted stranger. At one time, beside a small stream 
rushing through a narrow glen, I encountered a party of 
about fourscore persons, with two or three waggons. They 
had halted to bait; the beasts were grazing among the 



90 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

rocks, the men cleaving wood for fires, and boughs to erect 
a tenement for the hour; the women cooking or nursing 
their children, and the rosy boys and girls dabbling in a 
waterfall. When, from the summit of a mountain, or one 
of its precipices, where the road wound beneath my feet, 
appearing at intervals as far as the eye could reach, I be- 
held one of these large caravans, composed of half-clad 
beings, of every age and sex, slowly winding yp the moun- 
tain path, or resting at mid-day among the rocks, I could 
compare them only to the gipsy bands described by foreign 
novelists. 

At one of the most difficult passes of the mountain I met 
a cavalcade whose description will apply to a numerous 
class; they were from New England. The senior of the 
party was a middle-aged man, hale, well built, and decently 
clad. He was guiding a pair of small, lean, active horses, 
harnessed to a light waggon which contained the bedding 
and provisions of the party and a few articles of household 
furniture; two well brown, barefoot boys, in homespun 
shirts and trowsers, held the tail of the waggon, laudably 
endeavoring to prevent an upset by throwing their weight 
occasionally to that side which seemed to require ballast, 
while the father exerted his arms, voice, and whip, in urg- 
ing forward his ponies. In the rear toiled the partner of 
his pilgrimage, conducting, like John Rodgers' wife, "nine 
small children and one at the breast," and exhibiting in her 
own person and those of her offspring ample proof that, 
whatever might be the character of the land to which they 
were hastening, that which they had left was not deficient 
in health or fruitfulness. Nor must I omit to mention a 
chubby boy of six years old, who, by sundry falls and im- 
mersions, had acquired the hue of the soil from head to 
foot, and though now trudging knee-deep in the mire, was 
craunching an apple with the most entire composure. 

For many years emigrants continued to toil over the 
mountains. In 1835 Tyrone Power studied some of his 
fellow travelers to such purpose that he told of them 
vividly : ^* 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 91 

Whilst walking up the mountains, I frequently over- 
took settlers moving with all their worldly goods over to 
the great Western valley. I generally exchanged a few 
words with them, and with the more communicative now 
and then had a considerable long talk. Most of them were 
small farmers and mechanics from the Northern States, 
who followed here in the wake of kindred or neighbours, 
their plan arranged and their location determined upon. 
One or two heads of families, however, told me they were 
just going to look about, and did not know rightly where 
they might set up. 

I overtook one old couple attending a single-horse wagon 
up Laurel Hill; and surely, if any laurels awaited them 
at the summit, they were hardly enough won. The ap- 
pearance of this pair attracted me as I approached the 
rocky platform where for a moment they had halted to 
breathe ; the woman was a little creature, dressed in an old- 
fashioned flowered gown, with sleeves tight to the elbows, 
met by black mittens of faded silk, and a very small close 
bonnet of the same color. She had small brass buckles in 
her sho€S, a cane, like those borne by running footmen, in 
one hand, and upon the other arm a small basket, rolled 
up within which lay a tabby cat with which she held a con- 
versation in what sounded to me like broken French and 
English. 

The man was a son of Anak in altitude, somewhat bent 
by years, but having a soldierlike air. His white hair was 
combed back and gathered behind into a thick club ; he wore 
a long greatcoat, which, if made for him, gave testimony 
to a considerable falling off in his proportions, for it hung 
but loosely about him; had a very broad-leaved hat set 
jauntily on one side of his head; and supported his steps 
upon a sturdy stick. 

When the woman had entered the wagon once more, the 
giant told Mr. Power about her. He had met her in France, 
fifty years before, when he was about to go to America. 
A little boy appealed to him to help him out of the country ; 
he had no passport. On the voyage the boy turned out to 
be a girl, and when New York was reached the rescuer 



92 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

married the rescued. For forty years they Hved near Phila- 
delphia. Their emigration in old age was due to the failure 
of work in the East and rumors of work in Pittsburg, but 
the wife had feared the journey until her husband was 
trodden on in an election scuffle, and his arm broken. "My 
poor little woman took such a horror of the little bit of 
mobbing we had that she would make me pull up stakes, 
and here we are on our last move." 

When near the top of Laurel Hill on his return trip from 
Pittsburg Mr. Power talked with other emigrants : ^^ 

The extent of the present caravan made it peculiarly in- 
teresting. It consisted of five long, well-covered waggons, 
each drawn by eight or six horses and was attended by 
three or four led nags and a number of dogs of various 
denominations. The occupants of the waggons were 
women and children; the faces of the chubby rogues were 
all crowded in front to look upon the passing stranger, with 
here and there a shining ebony phiz thrust between; the 
chief freight appeared to consist of household furniture and 
agricultural implements. 

By the side of these waggons first rode four or five 
horsemen, well mounted, who might be the principals of 
the party, for they were men past the meridian of life; 
straggling in the rear, or scattered along the edges of the 
forest, walked eight or nine younger men, rough-and- 
ready-looking fellows, each with his rifle in his hand. Wild 
pigeons abounded along the cover-edge, and the sharp crack 
which every now and then rang through the air of morning 
told that the hunters were dealing upon them. 

From the construction of the waggons, as well as because 
their owners evinced no inclination either to hold com- 
munion or exchange civilities with a passing wayfarer, 
which no Southerner ever fails to do, I concluded this to 
be a party of New England men, who, abandoning their 
worn-out native fields, were pushing on for the "far West" 
with the lightness of heart consequent on the surety of reap- 
ing a brave harvest from a soil which withholds abundance 
from none who possess hearts and arms to ask it. 



THROUGH PITTSBURGH AND WHEELING 93 

Brave men and women were these who toiled over the 
Alleghenies, determined to endure trials and hardships 
without complaints, for the sake of the homes they sought to 
win, and — many of them must have had this larger thought 
— for the sake of the future of their country. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER II 
(See Bibliography) 

1. "Elarly Qiapters in the Development of the Patowmack Route 

to the West," p. JZ- 

2. "The Making of the Ohio Valley States," p. 229. 

3. "A Year's Residence in the United States of America," Part III, 

P- 357- 

4. "Memorable Days in America," p. 163. 

5. "An Englishman's Pocket Note Book in 1828," p. 333. 

6. "Adventures of Zenas Leonard," p. 297. 

, 7. "The Wilderness Road" (Filson Club), p. 16. 

8. "Early Settlement of the Ohio Valley," p. 4. 

9. "John Filson" (Filson Club), p. 46. 

10. "Journal from Philadelphia to Kentucky, 1787-8," p. 182. 

11. "Journal of Colonel Israel Shreve," p. 742. 

12. "Journals and Letters," pp. 25, 27, 29. 

13. "Travels to the West of the Allegheny Mountains,'' p. 34. 

14. "Topographical Description of the Territory of North America," 

p. 158. 

15. "A Journey to Ohio in 1810," p. 2. 

16. "John H. B. Latrobe and His Times," p. 46. 

17. "Notes on a Journey in America," pp. 28, 32, ff. 

18. "Letters from Illinois," p. 18. 

19. "A Narrative of a Journey of Five Thousand Miles," p. 189, £F. 

20. "A Year's Residence in the United States of America," pp. 322, 

362. 

21. "Letters from America," p. 41. 

22. "The New Purchase," pp. 3, 15, 17, 20. 

23. "Letters from the West," p. 310. 

24. "Impressions of America," Vol. I, p. 300. 

25. Ditto, p. 331. 



I. IN PERILS OF WATERS 

The river is up, the channel is deep. 

The winds blow high and strong, 
The flash of the oars, the stroke we keep, 
As we row the old boat along, 
Down the O-H-I-O ! 

— Old Boating Song. 

For two generations the Ohio river was the great 
emigrant highway between the East and the country west 
of Pittsburg and WheeHng. From Virginia, Maryland, 
Pennsylvania, New York and New England the pilgrims 
thronged in ever-increasing numbers. 

Until 1811 transportation on the river was by means of 
keelboats, barges, and flatboats. The keelboat has been 
described as being "long and slender, sharp fore and aft, 
with a narrow gangway just within the gunwale, for the 
boatmen as they poled up the stream," when they were un- 
able to use their oars. The flatboat was "an unwieldly box, 
and was broken up, for the lumber it contained, on its ar- 
rival- at its destination." Of course it was useful only in 
going downstream. Many of the early emigrants loaded 
their goods on flatboats, traveled by water as far as possible, 
then sold this means of transportation, and completed their 
journey on land. 

Long before the real beginning of emigration John 
Jennings went from Fort Pitt to the Illinois country by way 
of the Ohio. In his Journal ^ he told of the trip. Extracts 
are illuminating: 

March 9, 1766. This morning at Seven O'clock left 
Long Island [ten miles from Pittsburg] and proceeded 
down the River, with the following Batteaus, Viz. : The 

97 



98 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Ohio Packet, the Beaver, the Dublin, The Good Intent, 
And The Otter. 

March lo. At Twelve, Mr. Winston hailed the Boats, 
to bring too, in a threatning manner, two of the Boats made 
for him, but Capt. Long ordered them to proceed down the 
River, & put on shore for him, not chusing to refuse his 
coming on board, as he observed some Indian Women, & 
did not know but there might be Men conceal'd, to do us 
an injury. . . . 

March i8. At eight passed some Warriors' Cabbins; 
these are known by a Tree having the Bark strip'd of all 
round, about four feet from the Ground, with particular 
marks Cut on it, denoting what Nation they are, & their 
good or bad success in War, which is known by the Indians 
who happen to pass that way. 

Saturday 29. [On the Mississippi.] Passed several 
Islands & a great quantity of Trees in the River, on those 
Islands are a great many Stumps of small Trees, which 
the Beaver's Eat through, & when the Tree falls, they either 
then Eat the Bark of the Top part of it, or else drag it into 
the River, & carry it to their holes to Eat, or build with. 

April I. A very Large Beace Tree fell into the River, 
providentially we had passed it about ten yards before it 
fell, or in all probability the Boat would have been Crushed 
to pieces, & every Soul on board perished. 

April 5. At Eight heard a gun fire, & saw the St. 
George's Colours hoisted. ... At Ten O'Clock came up 
to them at the Mouth of the Kuskuskes River. . . . Pro- 
ceeded up the River, & . . . arrived at the Village. . . . 
It hath a Number of houses, some large, but meanly built, 
with good Lotts behind them, for Gardens, but make little 
use of them, the inhabitants in general being very indolent. 

From Kuskuskes the leader of the expedition went on to 
Fort Chartris "by Land in a Calash, a very ruff immitation 
of our chairs." 

One of the early travelers who left a record of his 
journey down the Ohio was George Rogers Clark, who in 
later years became famous by reason of his campaign 
against Forts Kaskaskia and Vincennes, in Illinois and 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 99 

Indiana- The tales of other venturesome explorers of the 
West proved of such interest to him that, when he was 
twenty years old he crossed the mountains and made his 
way down the Ohio, where he remained a few months. One 
of his companions, David Jones, kept a journal of the trip. 
Of this journal the following are extracts: ^ 

I left Fort Pitt on Tuesday, June 9, 1772, in company 
with George Rogers Clark, a young gentleman from Vir- 
ginia, who with several others inclined to make a tour of 
this new world. We traveled by water in a canoe. . . . 

. . . Instead of feathers my l^ed was gravel stones, by 
the river side. From Fort Pitt to this place [Grave Creek] 
we were only in one place where white people live. Our 
lodging was on the banks of the river, which at first seemed 
not to suit me, but afterwards it became more natural. . . . 

. . . We arrived at the Kanawha. . . . We went up this 
stream about ten miles and out on every side to view the 
land and to obtain provisions. My interpreter killed sev- 
eral deer, and a stately buffalo bull. . . . 

On a later trip Mr. Clark made a location of land near 
Wheeling, on which he built a cabin. For a season he 
spent his time surveying, hunting, fishing and caring for 
his land. 

On January 9, 1773, he wrote to his brother Jonathan: 

I embrace ye opportunity by Mr. Jarrot to let you know- 
that I am in good health, hoping that this will find you in 
the same. ... I am settled on my land with good plenty 
of provisions. . . . The country settles very fast, and com 
is in some parts 7s. 6d. per bushel, but I have a great plenty. 
The people are settling as low as ye Sioto river, 368 below 
Fort Pitt. Land has raised almost as dear here as below. 
... I get a good deal of cash by Surveying on this river. 

Settlements on the Ohio between Pittsburg and Louis- 
ville were becoming fairly common when the author of 
Taylor's History of Ten Baptist Churches passed, in 1783, 



100 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

the site of the Clark farm near WheeHng, on his way from 
Kentucky to Virginia. In giving the account of his trip ^ 
he said : 

We took water at Redstone, and for want of a better 
opening, I paid for a passage in a lonely, ill-fixed boat of 
strangers. The river being low, this lonesome boat was 
about seven weeks before she landed at Beargrass. Not a 
soul was then settled on the Ohio between Wheeling and 
Louisville, a space of five hundred or six hundred miles 
and not one hour, day or night in safety ; though it was now 
winter, not a soul in all Beargrass settlement was in safety 
but by being in a fort. I then meditated travelling about 
eighty miles to Craig's Station, on Gilbert's creek, in Lin- 
coln County. 

We set out in a few days; nearly all I owned was then 
at stake. I had three horses, two of them were packed, 
the other my wife rode, with as much lumber besides as 
the beast could bear. I had four black people, one man, 
and three Smaller ones. The pack horses were led, one 
by myself, the other by my man. The trace, what there 
was, being so narrow and bad, we had no choice but to wade 
through all the mud, rivers and creeks we came to. Salt 
River, with a number of its large branches, we had to deal 
with often; these waters being flush, v/e must often wade to 
our middle. . . . These struggles often made us forget the 
dangers we were in from Indians. . . . After six days 
painful travel of this kind, we arrived at Craig's Station 
a little before Christmas, and about three months after 
our start from Virginia. 

In 1785 John Filson went from Wilmington, Delaware, 
in company with a man named Jones and his family. The 
land journey has already been pictured in Chapter II. The 
trip down the Ohio was described thus : ^ 

On Sunday, May 27, the wagon in which the party had 
traveled was abandoned at Pittsburgh for the more easy- 
going flatboat, better known as the Kentucky boat. The 
party took passage in one of these arks, loaded with horses, 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 101 

cattle, groceries, dry goods, hardware, farming implements, 
and human beings bound for the Falls of the Ohio. Along 
the channel of "the beautiful river," severing the dark for- 
ests on either side, like the zig-zag lightning's path through 
the black clouds, they floated on the gentle current. The 
huge old sycamores and cottonwoods that had sentineled 
the vi^ild banks for untold years stood at the water's edge 
and leaned over the stream and beheld their wide-spreading 
arms and giant forms mirrored in the crystal waters. Every 
thing along the shore indicated the uninterrupted abode of 
the wild animals of the forest, except here and there, upon 
some rich bottom raised above the vernal floods, peeped 
from the rank foliage solitary mounds that had been reared 
so long ago by human beings that their builders had passed 
away without a tradition, a history, or a name. The 
haughty buffalo, and the timid deer, disdaining the smaller 
streams that paid tribute to the Ohio, came to the margio 
of the main river to slake their thirst, and there was noth- 
ing in all the vast solitude to remind one of civilized life 
except the rude vessel that floated along the current. On 
the thirteenth day after leaving Pittsburgh the boat was 
moored in the mouth of Beargrass Creek. 

Later in the year of John Filson's own voyage, Daniel 
Trabue started out with his family from Virginia to Ken- 
tucky. Here is a part of the story of their pilgrimage:^ 

We did intend to start to Kentucky the first of Septem- 
ber, but we did not get off so soon. Captain John Wat- 
kins, his family, and his son-in-law James Locket went with 
us. . , . We had 5 or 6 white men, and 12 or 15 negro 
men, and altogether our company was above 70 souls. We 
went on to Redstone, and got a large boat, which was very 
heavily loaded with all our horses, and our carriages, goods, 
and our people. 

Uncle Bartholomew Du Puy, with 3 of his sons, and a 
number of his negroes, and several other families, all started 
down the River at the same time. I think there were five 
boats, and in all 200 or 300 souls. I thought there was 
great danger of the Indians molesting us, but as we had 



102 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

many guns we agreed to stick together. We thought the 
water was sufficiently high for our boats, and that we could 
go in safety, but after we left the settlement we kept run- 
ning aground, as our boat was loaded very heavily. We 
went some distance below the Kanawha to an island, which 
is called the Dead Man's Island.' 

It was agreed by Mr. Locket and myself that he would 
steer the boat and I would take the front and Direct him 
by a wave of the hand which way to steer. We kept exactly 
after another Boat when on a sudden our Boat stove 
against the end of a log that was under water; the Boat 
made a sudden stop, and all the horses and people fell 
Down, I observed the boat was still, and the water ran as 
swift as a Mill Tail. I saw that a plank was bursted at my 
end, and the water was coming in very rapidly, as we were 
40 or 50 feet from shore, I hollowed out to Mr. Locket and 
waved my hand to turn his end to the shore. 

He did so, and it took several strokes with the assistance 
of another hand before they could turn it. When it got 
into that position I called out for them to jump. Some of 
the men, who were out first, held the boat. I hollowed for 
the women and children to go to the end, and jump out; 
and for the men, black and white, to throw out the things. 
My end began to sink very soon, and I, and another man, 
cut the ropes that held the horses. As the boat sank the 
horses swam out. This all took only three minutes. 

The people were all saved, but we lost considerable of 
our goods. If the hind end had turned the other way, it 
was thought that most of the women and children would 
have been drowned. We were thankful that A Kind Provi- 
dence had saved us, although we saw a great many things 
swimming of¥, there appeared to be not a murmur of regret, 
but all were thankful that it was no worse. 

The reason the other Boats escaped, and ours struck the 
log, was because our boat was a great deal the heaviest 
loaded, and sank deeper in the water. The other boats 
stopped, and came with their canoes to our assistance, as 
quickly as they could. They caught some few of our things 
that were still near. We apprehended great danger of In- 
dians, so we moved the women and children in canoes to 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 103 

the Island, with all our things. The same night all the 
Boats encamped together. 

The next morning we examined our boat, and took out 
all the iron things. She then floated, but was too much in- 
jured to mend. The Owner of the other Boats agreed with 
us that all the horses should be sent by land, and we then 
might have room in their boats. We were 21 days on the 
River, three times as long as we had expected. Our Pro- 
visions were scarce, and we often went ashore with our 
canoes, and killed Turkey which was plenty. 

We had a hearty laugh at one of Captain Watkins 
negroes who said, "It will do very well. Master, if we have 
plenty of Turkeys, for we will never die; but if we have 
bread and bacon, too, we will live a heap longer." 

We got all safe to Limestone, and landed; after waiting 
several days, the men with the horses arrived, bringing the 
bad news that the Indians had fired on them, and that sev- 
eral of the horses had been killed. Some of the people went 
on, with parts of their families and goods, and sent back 
for the rest. 

We all settled in Fayette, now Woodford County; I 
settled on Grear's Creek, near Kentucky River, We thought 
that a safe place as several people lived across the River, 
and we expected that it would soon be better settled. Next 
year Brother Edward Trabue, and his family came out, 
and settled on the Fork, or cleft of the Kentucky River. 
My mother. Uncle John Du Puy, Uncle Bert Du Puy, and 
Uncle James Du Puy all settled in the same neighborhood. 

The Indians soon became more troublesome, and the 
people who lived across the River moved over to our side. 
The Indians not only killed the people on the other side of 
the River, but also several in our neighborhood. We pur- 
sued the Indians many times, but they were too cunning for 
us, and we could not succeed in overtaking them. 

When Mrs. Mary De Wees floated down the river from 
Pittsburg to Kentucky, in the winter of 1787- 1788, she 
was delayed on McKee's Island, near her starting point, 
while she waited for high water. On November 17 her 



104. ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

party was encouraged by the rising river to make a fresh 
start. 

Of the experiences of the trip she wrote : ^ 

November 20. Just as the day broke got aground on a 
Sand bar, at the Beach Bottom. Just at that time a small 
Kentucky Boat that was ashore endeavoured to alarm us 
by fireing of a gun and accosting us in the Indian tongue, 
but our people could just discern the boat which quieted 
our fears. 

November 27,. . . . At dark came to Bilwell, a place 
founded by Mr. Tilton, late of Philadelphia. 'Tis the most 
delightful situation I have seen on the Ohio; there are 
about a dozen snug little cabins built on the bank, in which 
families reside, with each a field of corn and a garden, with 
a small fort to defend them from the Savages. This settle- 
ment began about 2 years ago, distant from Fort Pitt 200 
miles, on the Virginia shore. 

November 24. . , . The variety of deer, ducks, turkeys 
and geese, with which this country abounds, keeps us al- 
ways on the look out, and adds much to the beauty of 
scenes about us. Between the hours of six and eleven, we 
have seen twelve deer, some feeding in the grass patches 
that are on the Bottoms, some drinking at the river side, 
while others at the sight of us bound through the woods 
with amazing swiftness. 

On November 26 Mrs. De Wees landed at Limestone, 
Kentucky. On November 28 she set out from Limestone 
for Lexington. On November 29 she camped on North 
Fork. 

The journal continued : 

We made our bed at the fire, the night being very cold, 
and the howling of the wolves, together with its being the 
most dangerous part of the road, kept us from enjoying 
much repose that night. 

January 29. I have this day reached South Elkhorn and 
am much pleased with it. 'Tis a snug little Cabin about 9 
miles from Lexington, on a pretty ascent, surrounded by 
sugar trees, a beautiful pond a little distance from the 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 105 

house, with an excellent spring not far from the door. I 
have enjoyed more happiness the few days I have l^een 
here than I have experienced these four or five years past. 
I have my little family together, and am in full expectations 
of seeing better days. 

Up to this time the movement of emigrants down the 
Ohio had been spasmodic, but with the beginning of 
Marietta, the first well-organized settlement on the upper 
Ohio below Pittsburg, emigration became steadier and the 
volume increased. 

The first settlers went to Marietta in 1788, five years 
after 288 officers of the Revolutionary army petitioned Con- 
gress that the lands appropriated for the soldiers in 1786 
might be located in territory west of Pennsylvania, south of 
Lake Erie, and along the Ohio. 

When General Rufus Putnam forwarded the petition to 
Washington, he urged that it be granted, in order that "the 
country between Lake Erie and the Ohio might be filled 
with inhabitants, and the faithful subjects of the United 
States so established on the waters of the Ohio and the 
lakes, as to banish forever the idea of our Western Terri- 
tory falling under the dominion of any European power." '' 

Action by Congress was delayed, but General Putnam 
did not lose heart. In January, 1786, with Rufus Tupper, 
he called a meeting of officers and soldiers and others to 
form an Ohio Company. The meeting was held in Boston 
March i, 1786, and the Ohio Company of Associates was 
duly formed. It was agreed to raise a fund to purchase 
from Congress, for purposes of settlement, the Western 
lands which Congress had been asked to give them. 

On July 27, 1787, a tract of 1,500,000 acres on the Ohio 
River, between the Scioto and the Muskingum rivers was 
sold to the Company, at one dollar per acre. Half of the 
amount was paid down. When, later, it became impossible 
to pay the remainder. Congress gave a measure of relief. 

The first emigrants to go to the new lands set out from 
Danvers, Massachusetts, December i, 1787, under the 



106 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

guidance of General' Putnam, while a second party started 
from Hartford, Connecticut, January i, 1788. The first 
party reached the Youghiogheny January 23, 1788, while 
the second, making better time, joined them on February 14. 
There a barge, called the Mayflower, was built, forty-six 
feet long, and twelve feet wide. A cabin was provided for 
the women of the party, and an awning was stretched. The 
men propelled the boat with ten oars. 

On April i, the voyage to the Ohio was begun, and on 
April 7 the party reached the mouth of the Muskingum. 
The barge was moored to the bank, opposite Fort Harmar. 

Upon one of the old mounds near the bank the settlers 
built an enclosure of logs with a log fort at each corner. 
Within were the cabins occupied by the families. The fort 
and the enclosure were called The Campus Martins. On 
July 2, 1788, the name Marietta was given to the settle- 
ment, in honor of Marie Antoinette, queen of France. 

Events followed rapidly. On July 4 the first celebration 
of the national holiday took place with great enthusiasm. 
On July 17 the territorial government was set up, v/ith 
General St. Clair as governor. On July 26 Washington 
County was formed. 

By the close of 1788 one hundred and thirty-two men 
had settled at Marietta. The influx of settlers encouraged 
the Ohio Company to start other settlements farther down 
the river. 

Next to Marietta, the most important settlement of the 
year was Losantiville,* which later became Cincinnati. The 

* The derivation of this strange name is explained thus : L stands 
for the Licking River; os is mouth, anti is opposite, and inlle, of 
course, is village. Losantiville, therefore, means "The village op- 
posite the mouth of the Licking River." 

"William H. Venable has told in rhyme of the founding of the 
town. Six of his stanzas might w^ell be quoted : 

John Filson was a pedagogue — 

A pioneer was he; 
I know not what his nation was 

Nor what his pedigree. 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 107 

pioneers who selected the location were led by Matthias 
Denman of New Jersey. The same year, John Cleve 
Symmes, Chief Justice of New Jersey, laid out the town of 
Columbia, which also became a part of Cincinnati. In 1789 
Fort Washington was built to protect the settlements near 
by. Later Anna Symmes married, against her father's 
wish. Captain William Henry Harrison, an officer at the 
fort, who later became President of the United States. 

One of the emigrants of 1788 was Colonel John May, 
who stopped for a season at Pittsburg, on his way from 
Boston to Marietta. With his party he rested on the shore 
opposite the junction of the Allegheny and the Mononga- 
hela. While there he wrote : ^ 

Yesterday two boats for Kentucky hailed us at our land- 
ing, having on board twenty-nine whites, twenty-four 
negroes, nine dogs, twenty-three horses, cows, hogs, etc., 
besides provision and furniture. Several have passed to- 
day equally large. 

John Filson and companions bold 

A frontier village planned, 
In forest wild, on sloping hills, 

By fair Ohio's strand. 

John Filson from their languages 

With pedant skill did frame 
The novel word Losantiville 

To be the new town's name. 

Said Filson : "Comrades, hear my words : 

Ere three score years have flown 
Our town will be a city vast." 

Loud laughed Bob Pattison. 

Still John exclaimed, with prophet-tongue, 

"A city fair and proud, 
The Queen of Cities in the West !" 

Matt Denman laughed aloud. 

Losantiville, the prophet's word, 

The jfjoet's hope fulfills, — 
She sits a stately queen to-day, 

Amid her royal hills. 



108 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

While waiting here word came of the capture by savages 
near Marietta, of three "Kentuck boats." But the news 
did not cool the ardor of the pioneers. 

On May 14 General Harrison, from Fort Harmar, with 
several others, called on the May party. "They crossed the 
river in the Congress barge, rowed by twelve men, in white 
uniform and caps. This barge, is fifty-two feet long." 

Colonel May wrote further: 

On May 19 a Mr. Medcalf, of Dedham, came here, wish- 
ing to get a passage down the river. He being out of pro- 
visions and money, I took him into my family. 

Not until May 24 did the opportunity come to start down 
the Ohio, in a boat forty-two feet long and twelve feet 
wide, which drew two and one half feet and was of forty- 
five tons burden. The voyage was prosperous. 

Soon after reaching their destination on the Muskingum, 
two long boats arrived from the Falls of the Ohio, with 
about one hundred soldiers and officers. While coming up 
/the river they were fired upon by a strong party of 
Indians led by a white man. Two of the party were 
killed. 

On June 30 Colonel May wrote : 

Poor Dr. M. out of provisions and no money. Had pity 
on him and took him into my family, although it was quite 
large enough before. I put powder-horn and shot-bag onto 
him, and a gun in his hand, with a bottle of grog by his 
side, and told him to live on my cornfield, and keep of? 
squirrels and crows. 

Colonel May and his family continued to live on his 
"Kentucky ship," as he called it, while his people were 
hewing timber for his log house. He was still on board 
the vessel when Governor St. Clair arrived, July 9. "This 
is, in a sense, the birthday of the Western World," Colonel 
May wrote, triumphantly. 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 109 



The magnitude of the movement down the Ohio at this 
period has been described thus : 



9 



An eye-witness stated that between November 13 and 
December 22 of 1785, thirty-nine boats, with an average 
of ten souls in each, went down the Ohio to the Falls; and 
there were others which stopped at some of the settlements 
farther up the river. As time went on the number of im- 
migrants who adopted this method of travel increased; 
larger boats were used, and the immigrants took more 
property with them. In the last half of the year 1787 there 
passed by Fort Harmar 146 boats, with 3196 souls, 1371 
horses, 165 wagons, 191 cattle, 245 sheep and 24 hogs. 
In the year ending in November, 1788, 967 boats, carrying 
18,370 souls with 7986 horses, 2372 cows, mo sheep, and 
646 wagons, went down the Ohio. 



II. BY FLATBOAT AND KEEL BOAT 

Heigh-ho ! boatmen, row, 

A-floating down the Ohio! 

The boatmen dance — the boatmen sing — 

The boatmen are up to everything — 

Dance, boatmen, dance — dance, boatmen, dance I 

We'll dance all night till broad daylight. 

And go home with the gals in the morning! 

Heigh-ho, boatmen, row ! 

A-floating down the Ohio! 

Among the rich stories of adventure written at this 
period is the account left by Ephraim Cutler,^*' son of 
Manasseh Cutler, one of those responsible for the Ohio 
Company, who left his Connecticut home for Marietta on 
June 15, 1795. The trip was made on the advice of the 
family physician, for the benefit of Mrs. Cutler's faihng 
health. Friends told her she could not survive the terrible 
journey, but she insisted that she could. She not only sur- 
vived, but the experience restored her health. 

Most of Mr. Cutler's property had been invested in three 
shares of land in the Ohio Company's purchase, and at the 
beginning of the journey he had on hand only sufficient 
money for his expenses. The cost of the trip proved to be 
about two hundred dollars. 

When Mr. and Mrs. Cutler started on "their hazardous 
journey and perilous enterprise," there were with them their 
four children, aged eight, six, three and one. On the way 
they were joined by three other families. 

After driving to the Monongahela in a wagon drawn by 
two horses and a yoke of oxen, Mr. Cutler waited long 
enough for the building of a small Kentucky flat boat, suffi- 
cient to take the four families down to Marietta. 

On this boat the women and children embarked, while 

110 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 111 

Mr. Cutler and Colonel Putnam, one of his companions, 
took the horses across country to the Ohio. 

The boat's progress was delayed by low water; many 
times it grounded on the bars. On some days they advanced 
but three or four miles. When the party was near Beaver 
Creek the one-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Cutler died and 
was buried on the Pennsylvania bank. Soon after Wheel- 
ing was left behind the eight-year-old daughter died and 
was buried "in the dreary wilderness, far from the habita- 
tion of any civilized being." 

Of other disasters Mr. Cutler told in his journal: 

As the boat was lying near the shore, Mrs. Cutler, in 
attempting to pass to the land on an oar or plank, fell and 
striking her side against the edge of the boat, broke two of 
her ribs and injured herself seriously. My own health, not- 
withstanding the great exposure from being very often in 
the water, continued good until about the time this accident 
occurred, when I was attacked with dysentery, and much 
weakened before the boat landed at Marietta, which was 
on the morning of September i8, 1795. 

The river journey required thirty-one days, and more 
than three months had been spent on the way from Con- 
necticut. 

After a season in Marietta, the Cutlers moved to Water- 
ford, going up the Muskingum in a canoe. Here they oc- 
cupied half of a log cabin, being the thirty-third family in 
the settlement. There they saw few people until the dis- 
covery of a salt spring forty miles from Waterford, at 
what is now Chandlersville. The fame of the spring be- 
came so great that, after the opening of Zane's Road, from 
Wheeling to Maysville, Kentucky, as authorized by Con- 
gress in 1796, many travelers left this road either at Zanes- 
ville or at St. Clairsville, and sought the spring, stopping 
on the way at Waterford. The road from Waterford to the 
spring was laid out by Mr. Cutler. This was the first o£ 
many roads for which he was responsible. 



112 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Ezekiel Forman, of New Jersey, brother of General 
David Forman, who commanded the New Jersey troops at 
the battle of Germantown, set out in 1789 with his family 
and sixty or more negroes, for Natchez, Mississippi, where 
he planned to settle under Spanish authority. Major 
Samuel S. Forman, Ezekiel's nephew, accompanied the 
party. 

The horses and wagon were sold at Pittsburg, and the 
emigrants embarked on a tobacco boat for Natchez. 

Major Forman wrote of the trip : ^^ 

These boats were flat-bottomed, and boarded over the 
top, and appeared like floating houses. Uncle's boat was a 
seventy-foot keel boat, decked over, with a cabin for 
lodging purposes, but too low to stand up erect. The beds 
and bedding lay on the floor, and the inside was lined with 
plank to prevent the Indians from penetrating through with 
their balls, should they attack us. We had a large quantity of 
dry goods, and a few were paid and bartered in payment 
for boats and provisions. . , . Both boats were arme'd with 
rifles, pistols, etc. It being in Indian war time, all boats 
descending that long river, of about eleven hundred miles, 
were liable to be attacked every hour by a merciless foe, 
oftentimes led on by renegade whites. . . . 

Our keel-boat took the lead. These boats are guided by 
oars ; seldom used, except the steering oar, or -when passing 
islands, as the current goes about six or seven miles an 
hour. As the waters were now high the current was per- 
haps eight or nine miles an hour. Before day-break next 
morning we had a narrow escape from destruction, from 
our ignorance of river navigation. We had an anchor and 
cable attached to our keel-boat. The cable was made fast 
to small posts over the forecastle. When it began to grow 
dark, the anchor was thrown over, in hopes of holding us 
fast till morning, while the other boats were to tie up to 
trees along the river bank. 

As soon as the anchor fastened itself in the river bottom, 
the boat gave a little lurch, or side motion, when the cable 
tore away all the frame-work around the deck, causing a 
great alarm. Several little black children were on deck at 







If 


1 


mm 




i 




kl 




HP^' ^'^'^^sgi 


^■j^HjQaBJl^Bh^ «> ^ 



l'li<ilui/r((ijh( il ,'... ..'.'I.-, volume from a pahilin,/ in lite 
posses.s-ioji of the Ohio Historlcnl Society 



GENERAL I'UTNAIM LANDING AT 3IAR1ETTA 




From "The Xuvu/atur," 1811 



TWO SKl'TKINS OF THE OHIO RI\T:R 




From Schoolcrnft's "niittoriraJ Conditioua and Prospects 
of the Indians in the United States" 



OHIO RiVEH FRo:\r the si':\rMiT ov okave creek mouxd 



^k$i^f-M^^ms^ 




From "JVatlonal Galleri/ of America Landscape' 

WABASH RIVER, NEAR VINCENNES, INDIANA 




Photo;/ lapherl from poiiifinr/ in Federal BuUding, 
WheeJinri. Went ]'ir(/iiiin. bi/ Nicoll's Art Store 

MC CI'I. loin's IKAI", XEAR WHEEtING, 1777 

I'lirsucil hy Indians, who had heninied him in on tlirec sides 
on Wlu'fling Hill, McC'ol'.och daslied (h)\vn the in-ecipitous 
foiirtii side to safety. The Indians did not (hire to follow. 




Pli<}foi/r(ipli hji the United States 
Forest Service 



ox THE SCENT OF THE EJIKIUAXTS 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 113 

the time, and as it had now become quite da»-k, it could not 
be ascertained in the excitement of the moment, whether 
any of them had been thrown into the water. Fortunately 
none were missing. During our confusion, Captain 
Osmun's boat passed ours, a few minutes after the acci- 
dent, and we soon passed him, he hailing us, saying that 
he was entangled in the top of a large tree, which had caved 
into the river, and requested the small row-boat to assist 
him. . . . Osmun got clear of the tree without injury. . . . 
Some distance above Fort Washington, the Scioto river 
empties into the Ohio. Near this river was a cave, which 
the whites had not discovered till after Harmar's defeat. 
Here the Indians would sally out against boats ascending 
the Ohio. A canoe passed on the day before we passed the 
Scioto, which had been fired into at that point, one man 
having been shot through the shoulder, another through the 
calf of the leg, while the third escaped unhurt. 

The writer disembarked at Louisville in January, 1790, 
because the river was full of ice. He took a house in the 
village and opened the front part as a store. There he sold 
goods brought from Pittsburg, and took tobacco in pay- 
ment. Louisville at this time had about sixty dwelling 
houses. The writer stayed here to tend his store ; the others 
went on. 

An adventure which befell them soon after leaving Louis- 
ville was narrated by Major Forman: 

While Uncle Foreman and party were sojourning in 
Louisville there was, it appears, a white man there, who 
learned the names of Ezekiel Forman and Captain Osmun, 
their place of destination, and all about them. This fellow 
was a decoyer, who lived among the Indians, and whose 
business it was to lure boats ashore for purposes of murder 
and robbery. At some point below the mouth of the 
Tennessee, this renegade saw the boats approaching, ran on 
the beech imploring, upon his bended knees, that Mr. For- 
man, calling him by name, would come ashore and take him 
on board, as he had just escaped from the Indians. Mr. 
Foreman began to steer for his relief, when Captain Osmun, 



114 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

who was a little way in the rear, hailed Uncle, warning him 
to keep in the middle of the stream, as he saw Indians in 
hiding behind trees along the bank. 

In 1 79 1 Captain William Hubbell had a similar experi- 



ence 



12 



He procured a flat-boat on the Monongahela; nine men, 
three women, and eight children were on board. As they 
floated down the Ohio they discovered signs of Indians, and 
kept watch night and day. One morning about daylight a 
voice from the shore was heard begging to be taken on 
board; Captain Hubbell refused to land. The Indians, see- 
ing their decoy was unsuccessful, attacked the flat-boat; 
twenty-five or thirty approached in canoes. Firing com- 
menced on both sides. The lock of Captain Hubbell's rifle 
was shot off by a bullet from an Indian gun, but he coolly 
seized a fire-brand and fired his piece with fatal effect. His 
right arm was disabled, but he continued to fight, using 
pistols and hurling billets of wood. The Indians were 
driven off; but of the men only two remained unhurt, and 
three were killed. After the fight one of the children — a 
little boy — asked to have a bullet taken out of his head. 
On examination it was found that a bullet was indeed 
lodged in his scalp. "That ain't all," said he, showing a 
wound in his arm which had broken a bone. He had made 
no outcry, because the children had been ordered to keep 
quiet. The horses were all killed but one. In a space five 
feet square, on the side of the cabin, one hundred and 
twenty-two bullet holes were counted. 

The loneliness of the river banks was emphasized by 
Francis Baily,^^ an Englishman, who floated down the Ohio 
and the Mississippi in 1796-7. On the Ohio he noted scat- 
tered settlements, but, when he passed into the Mississippi, 
for days he saw no one. Finally he wrote : 

I could scarcely imagine that I was on the surface of a 
river which had flowed 3000 miles, and scarcely beheld the 
face of a man, much less washed the feet of his habitation, 
and had barely 200 miles further to go ere it would be 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 115 

forever lost in the great body of the ocean. This appear- 
ance of cultivation I afterward found was not extended 
into the interior of the country, but merely on the borders 
of the river; for all the country behind these settlements is 
still overgrown with woods and possessed by wild beasts; 
and there is seldom an instance of there being one settle- 
ment formed at the back of another, except in the im- 
mediate vicinity of New Orleans. 

A few days later the traveler ventured on a bit of 
prophecy. After telling of a man who built a schooner "at 
the head of the Ohio and actually navigated it down that 
river and the Mississippi, and sent it round by sea to Phila- 
delphia," where it became a coastwise commerce carrier, 
he said: 

If we may be allowed to anticipate a century or two, 
we may fancy we see a fleet of merchantmen doubling the 
cape at the mouth of the Ohio and bringing up that delight- 
ful river (where nothing is now heard but the croaking of 
bull frogs, the howling of wolves and wild beasts) the 
produce of every climate under the sun. 

The experience of Josiah Espy in the country bordering 
on the Ohio river were somewhat more varied than those 
of other travelers. In 1805, he made a trip to visit his 
mother and brothers and sisters who had emigrated, with 
Mr. Espy, from Bedford, Pennsylvania, in 1787.^* 

On July II, 1805, he arrived at Wheeling, by way of 
Pittsburg. On July 15 he sailed in the keel boat Mary. 
On July 25 he landed at Columbia. On July 26 he went up 
the Little Miami river seventeen miles, to the home of his 
brother, Thomas. 

After a few weeks he started for Kentucky. On Sep- 
tember 4 he reached Cincinnati, which at that time con- 
tained about two hundred dwelling houses, "many of them 
elegant brick buildings." 

On September 7 he crossed into Kentucky and reached 
Lexington September 9. 



116 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Lexington is the largest and most wealthy town in Ken- 
tucky, and indeed, west of the Allegheny Mountains, he 
wrote. I have been in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and in 
Frederick Town, Maryland, but in neither of these places 
was there the same bustle or appearance of business. In 
fact, the Main Street of Lexington has all the appearance 
of Market Street in Philadelphia on a busy day. 

I would suppose it contains about five hundred dwelling- 
houses, many of them elegant and three stories high. About 
thirty brick buildings were then raising, and I have little 
doubt but that in a few years it will rival not only in wealth, 
but population, the most populous inland town in the At- 
lantic States. 

On September 22 he crossed over to Indiana Territory, 
near the Falls of the Ohio. He was interested to note how 
the surrounding country was settling rapidly by emigrants 
from Kentucky and the middle states. 

At the close of his diary he made these observations: 

The emigration to the state of Ohio at this time is truly 
astonishing. From my own personal observation, com- 
pared with the opinion of some gentlemen I have consulted, 
I have good reason to conclude that during the present year 
from twenty thousand to thirty thousand souls have entered 
the state for the purpose of making it their future residence. 

These are chiefly from Pennsylvania, Virginia, New 
Jersey, Maryland, Kentucky and Tennessee, but on inquiry 
you will find some from every state in the union. 

The emigrants from Kentucky, Tennessee and the South- 
ern states are chiefly composed of those who are either op- 
posed to slavery, or are unable to purchase slaves. Conse- 
quently, this class of people are daily increasing in Ohio. 
The expectation of the few who wish the introduction of 
slavery there can never be realized. 

The Indiana territory was settled first under the same 
charter as the state of Ohio, prohibiting the admission of 
slaves, but the genius of a majority of the people ordering 
otherwise (the southern climate, no doubt, having its in- 
fluence), the legislature of that territory, during the last 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 117 

session, passed a law permitting a partial introduction of 
slavery. This circumstance will check the emigration of 
farmers who do their own labor, while the slave owners of 
the Southern states and Kentucky will be encouraged to re- 
move thither; consequently the state of society there will 
be altogether different from that of Ohio. Its manners and 
laws will assimilate more and more to those of Virginia 
and Kentucky, while Ohio will, in these respects, more 
closely imitate Pennsylvania and the middle states.* 

In traveling through this immense and beautiful country, 
an idea mingled with melancholy emotions almost con- 
tinually presented itself to my mind, which was this: — 
that before many years the people of that great tract of 
country would separate themselves from the Atlantic states 
and establish an independent empire. The peculiar situation 
of the country and the nature of men will gradually lead to 
this crisis; but what will be the proximate cause producing 
this great effect is yet in the womb of time. Perhaps some 
of us may live to see it. 

When the inhabitants of that immense territory will 
themselves independent, force from the Atlantic states to 
restrain them would be madness and folly. It cannot be 
prevented. 

One emigrant, Joseph Hough, who floated down the Ohio 
a number of times, was attracted to the Ohio territory, 
rather than to the slave territory farther down the river. 
His journey by keel boat required thirty-nine days, though 
he had six men to help him. The reason for the slow 
voyage he indicated as follows :^^ 

The river was then as low as had ever been known on 
many of the ripples in the deepest channel, if channel it 
could be called, when there was scarcely a foot of water. 
My boat drew one foot and a half, after taking out such 
articles as we could carry over the ripple in a large canoe, 
which was the only kind of lighter we could procure. Con- 
sequently we had to scrape out channels at the low ripples 
of sufficient width and depth to float our boat. We usually 

* This law was repealed December 14, i8io. 



118 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

found out the deepest water on the ripple and all hands 
would engage in making the channel. When we passed 
such a ripple, we reloaded our goods and proceeded on to 
the next, where the same labors had to be performed and 
the same exposure endured. The extent of the labor which 
had to be performed in order to pass our boat can be under- 
stood when I state that we were frequently detained three 
days at one of the worst ripples. 

Of his first trip he wrote: 

I left Cincinnati in December, 1808, with five flat boats, 
all loaded with produce. At that time there were but few 
settlers on the Ohio river below the present city of Louis- 
ville. The cabins were few and far between, and there were 
only two small villages between Louisville and the mouth 
of the Ohio. One was Henderson, known then by the name 
of Red Banks; the other was Shawneetown. The latter 
was a village of a few cabins and was used as a landing 
place for the salt works on the Saline river, back of the 
village. The banks of the Mississippi, from the mouth of 
the Ohio to Natchez, were still more sparsely settled. New 
Madrid, a very small village, was the first settlement below 
the mouth of the Ohio. There were a few cabins at Little 
Prairies, a cabin opposite to where Memphis now is, and 
on the lower end of the bluff on which that city is built 
there was a stockade fort called Fort Pickering, garrisoned 
by a company of rangers. Cabins were to be seen at the 
mouth of White river, at Point Chico, and at Walnut Hills, 
two miles above where the city of Vicksburg now is. From 
this place to Natchez there were cabins at distances from 
ten to twenty miles apart. 

The whole country bordering on the Mississippi, from 
the mouth of the Ohio to Natchez, might be regarded as 
an almost unbroken wilderness. The Indians seldom 
visited the banks, except at a few points where the river 
approached the high land. 

The bands of robbers who had infested the lower parts 
of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers had not been entirely 
dispersed, and were yet much dreaded by the merchant 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 119 

navigators of those rivers, so that the men on the boats 
were well armed, and during the night, when lying at the 
shore in the wilderness, a sentinel was kept in order to pre- 
vent surprise. 

John J. Audubon, the naturalist, made a voyage down 
the Ohio in the same year, 1808. He landed at Henderson, 
Kentucky. Of the town and the home he made there he 
said:^^ 

When I first landed at Henderson in Kentucky, my 
family, like the village, was quite small. The latter con- 
sisted of six or eight houses, the former of my wife, myself 
and a young child. Few as the houses were, we fortunately 
found one empty. It was a log cabin, not a log house ; but 
as better could not be had, we were pleased. The country 
around was thinly peopled, and all purchasable provisions 
rather scarce ; but our neighbors were friendly, and we had 
brought with us flour and bacon-hams. . . . The woods 
were amply stocked with game; the river with fish; and 
now and then the hoarded sweets of the industrious bees 
were brought from some hollow tree tO' our little table. 
Our child's cradle was our richest piece of furniture, our 
guns and fishing lines our most serviceable implements. . . . 

The naturalist waxed poetical on the occasion of another 
trip down the river, taken in October, 181 1 : ^'^ 

When my wife, my eldest son (then an infant), and 
myself were returning from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, we 
found it expedient, the waters being unusually low, to pro- 
vide ourselves with a skiff, to enable us to proceed to our 
abode at Henderson. I purchased a large, commodious 
and light boat of that denomination. We procured a 
mattress, and our friends furnished us with ready prepared 
viands. We had two stout negro rowers. . . . Here and 
there the lonely cabin of a squatter struck the eye, giving 
note of commencing civilization. The crossing of the 
stream by a deer foretold how soon the hills would be 
covered with snow. 

Many sluggish flat-boats we overtook and passed; some 



120 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

laden with produce from the different head-waters of the 
small rivers that pour their tributary streams into the Ohio ; 
others, of less dimensions, crowded with emigrants from 
distant parts, in search of a new home. 

When I think of those times, and call back to my mind 
the grandeur of those almost uninhabited shores; when I 
picture to myself the dense and lofty summits of the for- 
ests, that everywhere spread along the hills and overhung 
the margins of the stream, unmolested by the axe of the 
settler; when I know how dearly purchased the safe naviga- 
tion of that river has been, by the blood of many worthy 
Virginians; when I see that no longer any aborigines are 
to be found there, and that the vast herds of Elks, Deer, and 
Buffaloes which once pastured on these hills and in these 
valleys, making for themselves great roads to the several 
salt springs, have ceased to exist; when I reflect that all 
this great portion of our Union, instead of being in a state 
of nature, 'is now more or less covered with villages, farms 
and towns, where the din of hammers and machinery is 
constantly heard; that the woods are fast disappearing, un- 
der the axe by day, and the fire by night ; that hundreds of 
steamboats are gliding to and fro, over the whole length 
of the majestic river, forcing commerce to take root and to 
prosper at every spot ; when I see the surplus population of 
Europe coming to assist in the destruction of the forest, 
and transplanting civilization into its darkest recesses; when 
I remember that these extraordinary changes have all taken 
place in the short period of twenty years, I pause, wonder, 
and although I know all to be fact, can scarcely believe its 
reality. 

Soon after the close of the trip, Audubon was traveling 
through the Barrens of Kentucky on horseback, when he 
heard what he thought was the distant rumbling of a violent 
tornado. Then he noticed that his horse was placing one 
foot after another on the ground, with as much precaution 
as if walking on a smooth sheet of ice. "I thought he had 
suddenly foundered," the traveler wrote, "when he all of a 
sudden, fell-a-groaning bitterly, hung his head, spread out 
his four legs, as if to save himself from falling, and stood 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 121 

stock still, continuing to groan. I thought my horse was 
about to die, and would have sprung from his back had a 
minute more elapsed, but at that instant all the shrubs and 
trees began to move from their very roots, the ground rose 
and fell in successive furrows, like the rufHed waters of a 
lake, and I became bewildered in my ideas, as I too plainly 
discovered that all this awful commotion in nature was the 
result of an earthquake." 

This was the first of many shocks. Later he learned of 
the awful havoc wrought at New Madrid, Missouri, and 
on the Mississippi. 

It is a coincidence that within a few months of the time 
when the trip was taken by Audubon, Alexander Wilson, 
another Philadelphia ornithologist, made a voyage down the 
river. He traveled in an open skifif, which he called The 
Ornithologist. He adopted this method of travel, not only 
because it would afford him the best opportunity to make 
his observations, but because his means were limited. 

The start was made from Pittsburg immediately after 
the breaking up of the winter's ice. His stock of provisions 
consisted of some biscuit and cheese, and a bottle of cordial ; 
his gun, trunk, and greatcoat were in one end of the boat. 
He wrote that he "had a small tin occasionally to bale her, 
and to take my beverage from the Ohio with." Later he 
said:^^ 

The current went about two and a half miles an hour, 
and I added about three and a half miles more to the boat's 
way with my oars. In the course of the day I passed a 
number of arks, or, as they as usually called, Kentucky 
boats, loaded with what it must be acknowledged are the 
most valuable commodities of a country; viz. men, women 
and children, horses and ploughs, flour, millstones, &c. Sev- 
eral of these floating caravans were loaded with store goods 
for the supply of the settlements through which they passed, 
having a counter erected, shawls, muslins, &c., displayed, 
and every thing ready for transacting business. On ap- 
proaching a settlement they blow a horn or tin trumpet. 



122 OX THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEKUS 

which announces to the inhabitants their arrival. T K>ar«.k\l 
many of these arks, and teh much interested at the siirht 

o 

ot SO many human beings, migrating hke biRls of |xissagTe 
to the luxuriant regions of the south and west. The arks 
are built in the fonii of a parallelogratn. iKMng from twelve 
to fourteen fet?t wide, and from forty to seventy feet long, 
covered alx>ve, rowed only occasionally by two oars before, 
and steered by a long and powerful one iixed above. 



Probably Audubon and \\ ilson had as their daily com- 
panions on their trips down the Ohio the Pittsburg "Navi- 
gator.'" the river emigrant's tv7</<' imxtwu This was a 
pocket giiidelx^ok that gave as full infonnation as atiy one 
could give alxHit the river, its curtTuts, islands, shoals and 
rocks, with detail maps of the Ixmks. Those who used the 
"Xavigator" would feel like saying amen to an appeal for 
tlie removal of the obstructions to navigation, which was 
expressed thus : ^^ 

The consideration for opening the navigation of the 
Ohio has. become a matter of greater imiwrtance and neces- 
sity for the interest of Pennsylvania now than ever before. 
The L'nited States road from Cumberland on the Potomack 
to \\ heeling on the Ohio, when completed, will natuniUy 
draw a great deal of the trade from the northern states to 
the states of Ohio, Kentucky. Tennessee, and to Lcxiisiana, 
through that channel, thereby abridging very much the 
trade of those states through Pennsylvania. Therefore, if 
Pemisvlvania looks closely to her own interests, she will 
find that completing the turnpike road from llarrisburgh 
to Pittsburgh and opening the navigation of the Ohio are 
the two principal objects which will tend to sectu'e to her 
her usual commercial, foreign and domeslick advantages. 
Exclusive of the probability of the United States road 
drawing the trade to the south of Pennsylvania, New York 
state, on the north, is pushing her inland navigation and 
opening easy conununications from one end of the state to 
the other, by way of turnpikes, canals. &c., to an extent 
unparalleled in any other state in the Union. 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MlSSISSIPPr 123 

Diirinfj the s.If>w jjro^ress down the. river many an ea^er 
emigrant rejoiceM as he read of the prophecy of the hlessr- 
ings to cotne in the new country 

where their posterity may rest in safety, having plenty of 
all the necessaries, and many r>f the luxuries of life, where 
their children's children may enjoy the rich and prolifick 
production of the land, without an over degree of toil or 
iabmir, where the climate is miM and the soil salubrious, 
where each man is a prince in his own kingdom and may 
without molestation enjoy the frugal fare of his humble 
cot; where the clashing anrl terrifirk sonnds of war are not 
heard; where tyrants that desolate the earth flwell not; 
where man, simple man, if left to the guidance of his own 
will, subject only to laws of his own making, fraught with 
mildness, operating ef|ually just on all, and by all pro- 
tected anrl willingly ol>eyed. 

A copy of the "Navigator" which was used by one of 
these early home-makers is a valued possession of the His- 
torical Society of Pennsylvania. As the owner floated down 
the river he marked with ink little notes on the detail map: 

Shot a deer . . . Steamtxjat passed . . . Struck on this 
island . . . i>assed 1 1 Boats . . . Iwinded in heavy Rain 
. , , Passed 14 Boats . . . Fastened to small willows . . . 
Passed 23 Boats ... 2 Boats run ashore by wind . . . 
Canoe v/ith Indian passed . . . Landed in hard wind on 
c/mpany with a family fioat . . . Altered our Stearing ore. 

Three years after the copy of the "Navigator" in which 
these notes were made was in the hands of actual emigrants, 
the island where the deer was killed was passed by fClias 
Pym I-'ordham, a homeseeker from England, who left 
Pittsl>urg for Cincinnati in the fall of iHty. His goods he 
sent on by flatlx>at at a cost of fifty cents per hundred- 
weight. "These flat lK>ats, or Orleans lx>ats as they are 
called, in the Western waters are from 12 to 25 feet wide, 
and frf/TY) 30 to 90 feet long," he wrote: "They are sold 



124 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

when they arrive at their place of destination, and broken 
up. Not over lOO nails are used in building one, but they 
are stuck together with wooden pins. They will carry 700 
barrels of flour. They cost $1 pr. foot in length and sell 
for 25c. They are manned by four men each, and a 
pratoon. In the Mississippi double that number is neces- 
sary for the stream runs eight miles an hour, and is 
full of Eddies. Goods are brought up the river on keels 
or keelboats, which require 12 to 24 men to row and pole 
them against the current." 

Progress on the Ohio was slow, for the current was 
ordinarily only three miles an hour. But many of the long 
hours were passed in a skiff, in which he rowed to the 
shore, where he scrambled over the rocks and searched for 
curious plants or squirrels. Sometimes the skiff would 
strike a log, and he would be thrown into the water, but 
this merely added to the interest of the journey. 

When he reached Cincinnati he set out across Indiana, 
for the English Prairie region in Edwards County in 
Illinois, to which William Birkbeck had gone earlier in the 
season. The journey was made on horseback, each person 
being furnished with an upper and under blanket, and 
saddle bags, and two pack horses with extra luggage and 
bedding. 

At night the party stopped in roadside taverns, or with 
farmers, most of whom had a room for travelers. The 
country traversed was "one vast forest, intersected by a 
few Blaze roads, and two or three open roads. There are 
a few new towns and some settlements on and near the state 
roads and river. These are generally from one to three 
years old." 



III. FROM ARK TO STEAMBOAT 

The moonlight sleeps upon thy shores, 

Fair river of the West ! 
And the soft sound of dipping oars 

Just breaks thy evening rest. 
Full many a bark its silver path 

Is tracing o'er thy tide; 
And list, the sound of song and laugh 

Floats onward where they glide. 

— Sara L. P. Smith. 

Another English traveler, William Cobbett ^® gave an 
interesting sketch of his river trip, taken in 1817: 

Leaving Pittsburgh on June 6 he "set out on a thing 
called an ark. . . . We have, besides, a small skiff, to tow 
the ark and go ashore occasionally. The ark, which would 
stow away eight persons, close packed, is a thing by no 
means pleasant to travel in, especially at night. It is strong 
at bottom, but may be compared to an orange-box bowed at 
top, and so badly made as to admit a boy's hand to steal the 
oranges : it is proof against the river, but not against the 
rain. 

Just on going to push off the wharf, an English officer 
stepped on board of us, with all the curiosity imaginable. 
I at once took him for a spy hired to way-lay travellers. He 
began to talk about the Western Countries, anxiously as- 
suring us that we need not hope to meet with such a thing 
as a respectable person, travel where we would. 

June 9th. Two fine young men join us, one a carpenter 
and the other a saddler, from Washington, in a skiff they 
have bought at Pittsburgh and in which they are taking a 
journey of about seven hundred miles down the river. We 
allow them to tie their skiff to our ark, for which they very 
cheerfully assist us. Much diverted to see the nimbleness 

125 



126 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

with which they go on shore sometimes with their rifles, 
to shoot pigeon and squirrels. The whole expense of these 
two young men, floating the seven hundred miles, will be 
but seven dollars each, including skiff and everything else. 

June 13th. Arrived at Cincinnati about midnight. Tied 
our ark to a large log at the side of the river, and went to 
sleep. Before morning, however, the fastening broke, and 
if it had not been for a watchful back-woods man whom 
we had taken on board some distance up the river, we might 
have floated ten or fiteen miles without knowing it. . . . 

We sold our ark, and its produce formed a deduction 
from our expenses, which, with that deduction, amounted 
to fourteen dollars each, including every thing, for the 
journey from Pittsburgh to this place. . . . 

From Cincinnati the party floated down the river in a 
rowboat, ascended the Wabash, and went to Princeton. At 
Princeton horses were bought and they rode over to see 
Mr. Birkbeck on English Prairie. "Before we got to the 
Wabash we had to cross a swamp half a mile wide," Mr. 
Cobbett continued. "We were obliged to lead our horses, 
and walk up to the knees in mud and water. Before we got 
half across we began to think of going back; but there is a 
sound bottom under it all, and we waded through it as well 
as we could." 

Travel along and through marshes like those crossed by 
Mr. Cobbett and exposure on the flat boats caused so much 
sickness among the emigrants that David Thomas ^^ in 
1 8 19 wrote for the benefit of those who should follow him: 

The manner of removing hither rs such that our surprise 
is rather excited that so few are diseased. Many are cooped 
up during the heat of summer for six weeks, exposed to 
the powerful reflection of the sun from the water, while 
the roof over their heads is heated like an oven. In ad- 
dition, they have the smell of bilge water, and the exhala- 
tions from the muddy shores. Their daily drink is sup- 
plied by the river; its warmth relaxes the tone of the 
stomach. 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 127 

This was Mr, Thomas' counsel : 

Descend the river after tlie commencement of autumn at 
frosts . . . avoid going in a vessel with a leaky roof. A 
crowded boat is an inconvenient place to dry wet clothes, 
and the expense of being comfortably sheltered will fre- 
quently be less than the damage in furniture, without con- 
sidering the probable loss of health. To bend thin boards 
for a cover is customary, but not sufficient. I have seen 
no roof of that kind which would be a shelter from a driv- 
ing shower of rain. A sick woman said to me near the 
Wabash, "I ascribe my sickness, in great measure, to one 
dismal night that I endured on the river. The rain poured 
through every part of the roof, and to sit on the bed with 
my children, under an umbrella, was our only refuge." 

Birkbeck's English Prairie was the Mecca of many Eng- 
lishmen who had been lured thither by reading his letters 
from America, In August, 1819, John Woods,^^ on his 
way to Illinois, reached the Ohio, after traveling by the 
National Turnpike. At the end of the trip he said that his 
journey from England had required one hundred and thirty- 
nine days, as follows: Voyage to Baltimore, 58 days; 16 
days in Baltimore; 16 days to Wheeling; 38 days Wheeling 
to Shawneetown; 7 days here; 4 days more to the Prairies, 
by keel boat to the mouth of the Bonpas, and on foot the 
remainder of the way. 

He spoke highly of the treatment received by the way, 
from residents, waggoners, tavern keepers. "In short, we 
met with as good treatment as we should in a tour through 
England ; but the manners of the Americans are more rough 
than those of Englishmen." 

Mr. Woods, in surprise, several times recorded the fact 
that he had not had an accident or sickness of any kind on 
the route. An emigrant woman of whom Thomas Nut- 
tall ^^ wrote was not so fortunate. She had a terrifying 
experience with a hurricane while on a flatboat on the Ohio. 
"She herself and one of her children had taken their regular 
turn at the oar, the master of the boat, who had his family 



128 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

around him, became so far alarmed and confused as to 
quit his post in the midst of the danger which threatened 
instantly to overwhehn them, tremendous waves broke into 
the boat, which the affrighted steersman knew not how to 
avoid. This woman seized the hehn, which was abandoned, 
and by her skill and courage saved the boat and the families 
from imminent destruction." 

Another side of river travel was recorded by John A. 
Quitman,-* twenty-one years old, who crossed the Alle- 
ghenies on foot and arrived at Pittsburg November 2, 1819. 
Of his passage down the river in a keel boat he said : 

The accommodations were very rough, but the ladies 
made it agreeable. Miss Griffith played on the flageolet 
and I on the flute. I felt like poor Goldsmith when, wander- 
ing over Europe, he fluted for his supper. Our fowling- 
pieces supplied us with game; biscuit and jerked venison 
were our standbys. 

Writing of a journey taken at about the same time, Judge 
Hall -^' said that the forty-five ton keel boat on which he 
■was a passenger was "laden with merchandise and navigated 
by eight or ten of those half-bone and half-alligator gentry, 
commonly called 'Ohio boatmen,' who delighted to pull the 
oars to some such ditty as : 

Some rows up, but we rows down, 

All the way to Shawneetown. 

Pullaway — pullaway !" 

To-day we passed two large crafts lashed together, by 
which simple conveyance several families from New Eng- 
land were transporting themselves and their property to 
the land of promise in the western woods. Each raft was 
eighty or ninety feet long, with a small house erected on 
it; and on each was a stack of hay, round which several 
horses and cows were feeding, while the paraphernalia of 
a farm-yard, the ploughs, waggons, pigs, children and poul- 
try, carelessly distributed, gave to the whole more the ap- 
pearance of a permanent residence, than of a caravan of 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 129 

adventurers seeking a home. A respectable looking old 
lady, with spectables on nose, was seated on a chair at the 
door of one of the cabins, employed in knitting; another 
female was at the wash-tub; the men were chewing their 
tobacco, with as much complacency as if they had been in 
"the land of steady habits," and the various family associa- 
tions seemed to go on like clockwork. In this manner the 
people travel at a slight expense. They bring their own 
provisions; the raft floats with the current; and honest 
Jonathan, surrounded with his scolding, grunting, squalling, 
and neighing dependents, floats to the point proposed with- 
out leaving his own fireside ; and on his arrival there, may 
step on shore with his house and commence business. . . . 

Many emigrants came to the Ohio from Tennessee and 
Kentucky by way of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. 
So few were the records left by these, however, that the 
story of W. B. De Wees ^^ is of special value. 

On March i, 1819, he left Nashville. On a keel boat he 
reached the Ohio by way of the Cumberland, and then the 
Mississippi. He made no comment on the country until he 
came to the Walnut Hills, on the Mississippi River. Then 
he waxed enthusiastic: 

They are elevated seventy-five or one hundred feet above 
the common level of the river. Although it was in the 
winter season, the grass was perfectly green. The scenery 
was certainly enchanting! 

The vessels upon this river consist in part of barges and 
keel boats, but mostly of upper country flat-boats, generally 
called broad-horns. . . . While at Natchez I saw a steam- 
boat. I spent some time on board examining this boat. 
... I think this invention of Robert Fulton will eventually 
prove to be of great advantage to this part of the country, 
and I hope the time will soon come, as I firmly believe it 
will, when they will take the place of the vessels which are 
now occupied in navigating this majestic river. Nor do I 
think I am too sanguine when I say that in twenty-five years 
from now whoever lives to see that time will find steam 
navigation to be the most common mode. 



130 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

After entering Red River, we found our labors very toil- 
some; on account of our boat being a large, family boat, 
crowded with women and children, we found it very diffi- 
cult to row and push up stream. However, we got along 
very well, though slowly, until we arrived at the Big 
Raft.^. . . 

Our course through the raft was very slow and toilsome. 
The distance is about ninety miles. We were thirty days in 
making this distance. Ours is the only boat of any size 
that has ever passed through the raft. Had we not been 
so fortunate as to secure the service of a Caddo Indian, 
who had passed through before, as a guide, we should most 
likely have been lost. 

I hardly know how to give you a description of this raft, 
but perhaps you can get the best description of it by imagin- 
ing yourself in a large swamp, grown up with trees and 
filled up with driftwood, wedged in very closely, the water 
having no particular current and nuining in no particular 
direction. During the thirty days we saw land but two or 
three times, and then only some small islands. At night we 
tied our boats to a tree and remained till morning. Some- 
times we would come across lakes two or three miles in 
extent, and then again we would spend a whole day in mov- 
ing not further than the length of the boat. 

But I must not forget to tell you of the immense quantity 
of bee trees which we found in this raft. At any time we 
could go in our "dug out," and return laden with a large 
quantity of honey, which we found truly delicious. 

After we were safely through the raft, we had no diffi- 
culty in getting to this place, [Long Prairie] which is only 
about a three days' journey. The country from Natchi- 
toches to this place is generally uninhabited, except by a few 
Indians. 

Long Prairie is the first large prairie on Red river, from 
the mouth up, and is surrounded by a heavily timbered 
country. The land is very rich. . . . The population of 
this part of the country consisted of two families previous 
to our arrival. As to the health of the place I know but 
little . . . but from appearances I should not judge favor- 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 131 

ably of it. Here I saw for the first time a person shaking 
with the ague. I supposed the person to be dying. . . . 

The prevalence of ague in this region was due in large 
part to the curious Red River Raft, the largest and most 
remarkable formation of the kind of which there is any 
record. The Red river, more than seventeen hundred miles 
long, was practically closed to navigation by a timber raft 
of enormous extent. Early explorers were unable to ascend 
the stream, and most later navigators found it necessary to 
make use of a series of bayous and creeks to reach the 
headwaters. 

The raft was described in 1855 ^"^ as *'an accumulation 
of trees, logs, and drift, extending over the surface of the 
river from bank to bank, and for miles in extent, so close 
and compact as to be walked over without wetting the feet. 
Broom straw, willows, and other small bushes are growing 
out of the rich, alluvial earth that covers the logs, so that 
it presents the appearance of an old worn-out field that 
has been abandoned to grow up again." 

It has been conjectured that the formation of this raft 
began nearly five centuries ago. The cause, it is agreed, 
was that waters of the Mississippi, being high from a 
freshet when the Red river was low, backed up and made 
still water at the mouth. Driftwood floating downstream 
was stopped in the still water; further accumulations made 
a solid mass from shore to shore. When the Mississippi 
fell to the level of the Red river, the mass became jammed. 
The banks of the stream being heavily wooded, vast quanti- 
ties of timber were added, and the raft grew at the rate of 
about a mile and a half a year. As the years passed, the 
oldest timber rotted, and sections of the raft broke away 
and floated down to the Gulf of Mexico. The process of 
decay was not sufliciently rapid to keep pace with the ad- 
ditions, and the raft increased in length, while gradually 
receding upstream. This recession was so slow, that one 
man said, "If we would wait two hundred years, it would 



132 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

give us navigation up to some eight hundred miles above 
the mouth." 

But it was impossible to wait on the processes of nature. 
The whole Red river country' was malarial because of the 
decaying timber. As the raft grew, settlers were driven 
back, not only by the malaria, but by the waters which 
overflowed the prairie, and made of a fertile countr\' a lake 
from twenty to thirty miles wide. Homes were deserted, 
and the development of the region was retarded. When 
Government engineers made a preliminar}'- sur\'ey in 1833, 
the raft was found to be one hundred and twenty-eight 
miles long, the lower end being about four hundred miles 
above the mouth of the stream. Operations were begun at 
once, under the direction of Captain Shreve. 

At first the work was not difficult. The lower part of 
the raft was in such a state of decay, and yielded so readily 
to the grapplings of the steamer that about one hundred 
miles of it was pulled away the first season. Good naviga- 
tion was then established up to Coates' Bluff, now Shreve- 
port, so named for the leader of the expedition. 

The last thirty miles of the obstruction presented great 
difficulties. The timber was solid, and the completion of 
the work required many years. Not until 1873 was a 
navigable channel opened. At once the level of the water 
was lowered fifteen feet. But it is still necessary to keep 
snag boats in action, that the raft may not be renewed. 

During the progress of the work of removal Captain 
Shreve and his associates were encouraged by the prophecy 
that some day the fertile lands of the valley "would be in- 
habited by a dense population, and the waters freighted 
with the produce of its unlimited fine range for cattle and 
hogs, and also with cotton, wheat and other grains." 

It was not necessary to go to the Red River Country to 
find malaria. The author of "An Englishman's Pocket 
Note-book in 1828," ^s ^vho "took boat at Wheeling," on 
November 28, wrote: 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 133 

The steamboat is very small and dirty . . . the low state 
of the water in the Ohio not allowing large steamlx>ats to 
ply at this season of the year. . . . Crammed with pas- 
sengers, all equally disagreeable. . . The settlers are few, 
and cultivation along the banks scarcely seen. They are 
subject here and on the river to the ague and bilious fever. 
The few inhabitants I saw were sickly, emaciated beings. 
No doubt the climate will improve when the land is cleared. 

The Englishman could not restrain his wonder at the 
number of steamboats on the river. On November lO, 
when he reached Cincinnati, he said : 

We saw here 20 large and small steamboats, and on the 
quay an immense numl^er of drays and wagons. . . . The 
town has risen within 2 years and in the very midst of 
forests to be a place of considerable importance and trade. 

The Pittsburg "Navigator," printed in 1814, from which a 
quotation has already been made, spoke enthusiastically^* 
of the marvel of the river that was to be such a large factor 
in the transformation of the Western Country: 

There is now on foot a new mode of navigating our 
western waters, particularly the Ohio and the Mississippi 
rivers. This is with boats propelled by the power of steam. 
This plan has been carried into successful operation on the 
Hudson river at New York, and on the Delaware between 
New Castle and Burlington. It has been stated that the 
one on the Hudson goes at the rate of four miles an hour 
against wind and tide on her route between New Yorki 
and Albany, and frequently with 300 passengers on board.. 
From these successful experiments there can be but little 
doubt of the plan succeeding on our western waters, and 
proving of immense advantage to the commerce of our 
country. A Mr. Rosewalt, a gentleman of enterprise, who 
is acting it is said in conjunction with Messrs. Fulton and 
Livingston of New York, has a boat of this kind now 
(1810) on the stocks at Pittsburgh, of 138 feet keel, cal- 
culated for 300 or 400 tons burden. 



134. ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

A footnote called attention to the fact that the boat was 
in successful operation. "She passes floating wood on the 
river as you pass objects on land when on a swift trotting 
horse." The vessel, it was stated, could make thirteen trips 
a year to New Orleans, at an income of $31,200 a year, and 
an expense of $6,906. As the cost of the boat was $40,000, 
this return seemed startling. The hope was expressed that 
these returns would encourage others so that the people 
of the world would "see the advantage of steam power over 
that of the oars and poles, and ere long have steam boats 
of all sizes and fashions, running up and down our numer- 
ous rivers, with as much ease and facility as does the com- 
mon canoe under the direction of its skilful original mas- 
ters, the Indians." 

The "Navigator's" "Mr. Rosewalt" was Nicholas J. 
Roosevelt, who, in 1809, with Mrs. Roosevelt, made an ad- 
venturous trip down the Ohio and the Mississippi, as far 
as New Orleans, to examine critically the rivers with a view 
to the possibility of navigation by the steamboat which he 
hoped to build. Mrs. Roosevelt said of the trip : ^® 

The journey in the flat boat commenced at Pittsburgh, 
where Mr. Roosevelt had it built; a huge box containing a 
comfortable bedroom, dining room, pantry and a room in 
front for the crew, with a fireplace where the cooking was 
done. The top of the boat was flat, with seats and an 
awning. We had on board a pilot, three hands, and a man 
cook. We always stopped at night, lashing the boat to the 
shore. The row boat was a large one, in which Mr. Roose- 
velt went out continually with two or three men to ascertain 
the rapidity of the ripple or current. 

As Mr. Roosevelt met travelers and traders along the 
river he told them of his belief that the river could be 
navigated by steamboats, but they laughed at him. His 
faith, however, was strong, and when he returned to the 
East he sought capitalists in New York. These were so 
interested in his report that in 181 1 he found himself in 
Pittsburg once more, ready to work on the steamboat. 



DOWN THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI 135 

Men were sent to the forest to cut timber for ribs, knees, 
and beams. These were rafted down the Monongahela to 
the shipyard. Planking was cut from white-pine logs, in 
the old-fashioned saw-pits. A shipbuilder and the me- 
chanics required were brought from New York. 

When the boat, one hundred and sixteen feet long, was 
ready, it was christened the New Orleans. 

On the initial trip Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt were the only 
passengers. The crew was made up of the captain, the 
engineer, the pilot, six deckhands, and four servants. 

Eager watchers at Pittsburg saw the vessel swing into 
the stream and disappear around the first headlands. Many 
of them shook their heads, declaring that the boat would 
never reach Cincinnati. 

But it did reach Cincinnati. The welcome there was 
hearty, but there, too, doubters were many. When the lines 
were cast loose, some said, "We see you for the last time. 
Your boat may go down the river ; but, as to coming up it, 
the very idea is an absurd one." 

The Cincinnati doubters were convinced when the boat 
returned from Louisville, having been stopped by the lack 
of sufficient water to carry it over the Falls. 

When the stage of water was right, Louisville was safely 
passed. Then began days of anxiety, due not to the steam- 
er's failure to mind her helm, but to the great earthquake 
of 1811, which struck terror to the hearts of thousands, 
changed river channels, and worked other transformations 
in the physical appearance of the country for hundreds of 
miles. 

At New Madrid, scores of people begged to be taken on 
board. They reported that the earth had opened and that 
many houses and their inhabitants had been swallowed up. 
Other settlers hid from the boat, thinking that its appear- 
ance was a part of the calamity that had overtaken the 
town. 

At last the steamboat passed out of the field of the 
earthquake, and once more there was quiet. Natchez and 



136 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

New Orleans were reached in good time, and the voyage of 
the first steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi was ended 
— "the voyage which changed the relations of the West — ■ 
jvhich may almost be said to have changed its destiny." 



NOTES TO CHAPTER III 
(See Bibliography) 

1. "Journal from Fort Pitt to Fort Chartres," p. 145. 

2. "Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio," Vol. I, 

pp. 60-63. 

3. "The Wilderness Road" (Filson Club), p. 54. 

4. "John Filson" (Filson Club), p. 46. 

5. "Colonial Men and Times," p. 129. 

6. "Journal from Philadelphia to Kentucky, 1787-8," p. 182. 

7. "Washington County and the Early Settlements of Ohio," p. 29. 

8. "Journal and Letters of Colonel John May," p. 38, ff. 

9. "The Winning of tlie West," Vol. Ill, p. 15. 

10. "Life and Times of Ephraim Cutler," p. 19. 

11. "Narrative of a Journey on the Ohio and Mississippi," pp. 24, 25, 

30, 2,^. 

12. "The Wilderness Road" (Filson Club), p. 54. 

13. "Journal of a Tour in the Unsettled Parts of the United States 

of America," p. 296. 

14. "Memorandum of a Tour," p. i, flF. 

15. "Pioneer Biography," p. 316. 

16. "Audubon and His Journals," Vol. II, p. 208. 

17. Ibid., p. 203. 

18. "Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander Wilson," Vol. I, p. 179. 

19. "The Pittsburgh Navigator," p. 28. 

20. "A Year's Residence in the United States of America," p. 323. 

21. "Travels through the Western Country," p. 214. 

22. "Two Years* Residence in the Settlement of the English Prairie," 

p. 143- 

23. "Journals and Travels in the Arkansas Territory," p. 23. 

24. "Central Ohio Seventy Years Ago," p. 224. 

25. "Letters from the West," p. 94. 

26. "Letters from an Early Settler in Texas," p. 10. 

27. "DeBow's Review," p. 437. 

28. "An Englishman's Pocket Note Book," p. 334. 

29. "The Navigator," p. 30. 

30. "The First Steamboat in Western Waters," p. 7. 



I. THE LONG ROAD TO THE V/ESTERN RESERVE 

Home is home, no matter where ! 
Sang a happy, youthful pair. 
Journeying westward, years ago, — 
As they left the April snow 
White on Massachusetts' shore; 
Left the sea's incessant roar. 
Left the Adirondacks piled 
Like the playthings of a child, 
On the horizon's eastern bound; 
And, the unbroken forests found, 
Heard Niagara's sullen call. 
Hurrying to his headlong fall. 
Like a Titan in distress. 
Tearing through the wilderness. 
Bending earth apart, in hate 
Of the unpitying hand of fate. 

— Lucy Larcom. 



A WRITER too modest to use his name has given the fol- 
lowing characterization of the pioneer who conquered the 
wilderness : 

The young American has inherited a genius for colo- 
nisation. He has seen and learned by tradition of the 
growth of comfort, wealth and refinement, of the increased 
values of land, and the rapid rise of cities and acquisition of 
capital around him in his more easterly home. He starts out 
full of courage and hope, with no other capital than these 
qualities and his strong arm, to acquire the cheap land and 
build himself a home in the West. He leaves behind friends 
and kindred, resolved to achieve fortune and consequence, 
and then to return East to marry and carry his wife to the 
new land. He is enterprising and full of faith. He knows that 
his adopted State or Territory will soon become populous, 

l39 



140 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

and contain large cities and all the comforts and luxuries 
he has left in the East. He hastens to seize the rich soil, 
the forest of timber, the coal field, the iron, copper or lead 
mine, the fine water power or the promising town-site, which 
have remained since creation untouched in that country of 
hope. As he acquires fortune, and his boys grow up, they 
too become filled with the inevitable longing. The land 
around him has become valuable; the social and business 
chances are diminished by competition ; they know the story 
of their fathers career and the most enterprising imitate it, 
and start out to advance still farther the line of the Western 
frontier. 

That the residents of New England and Eastern New 
York were slower to exhibit this longing to seek new homes 
in the territory to the west of them than were the people 
of Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and North 
Carolina was not due to the absence of desire to make the 
venture, but to hindrances in the way. For them the road 
to the West was long blocked by a wilderness in which 
swarmed Indians whose instinctive hatred of the white man 
was intensified by alliance with civilized enemies of the 
colonists. 

Of course they could have gone south and joined the com- 
pany of those who were straggling across Pennsylvania, or 
through the Blue Ridge Mountains to Cumberland Gap. 
Some of them did adopt this course, but these were com- 
paratively few, for the unoccupied lands to the south did 
not appeal to a large number of New Englanders with the 
spirit of the pioneer who braves tremendous perils for the 
sake of carving a new home from the wilderness. Their 
thoughts turned to other lands in their own latitude. The 
Connecticut citizen, for instance, had been taught that his 
state had title to uncounted millions of acres far to the west- 
ward of her accepted border. Had not Charles II, in 1662, 
decreed by royal charter that Connecticut should have "all 
of the lands west of it, to the extent of its breadth, from 
sea to sea?" 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 141 

To be sure, the same monarch had made a grant to Wil- 
liam Penn which included a portion of the lands already 
granted to Connecticut, even to the extent of two-fifths of 
the entire Penn grant ; but this conflicting grant was made 
in 1681. That is, for nineteen years before Penn sailed up 
the Delaware, Connecticut had owned the lands covered by 
the overlapping grant. Some day she would take posses- 
sion of this two-fifths of Pennsylvania. 

Another break in the continuity of the lands west of 
Connecticut, "to the extent of its breadth from sea to sea," 
was between Connecticut and the eastern line of Pennsyl- 
vania. This section was one of the choice parts of New 
York State, and there could be no thought of settling here. 

Of other lands beyond the western borders of Pennsyl- 
vania they had heard vague tales from soldiers and ad- 
venturers. But these were too far distant, and there were 
too many obstacles in the way. 

Yet there were some Connecticut men who felt they must 
respond to the call of the new land. So they decided to 
assert their right to a beautiful unsettled region in North- 
eastern Pennsylvania. One company of emigrants, called 
the Delaware Company, was organized for the purpose. 
They bought the title of the Indians to certain lands bor- 
dering on the Delaware and in 1757 settled at Cushutunk, 
in what is now Wayne County, Pennsylvania. The Susque- 
hanna Company, organized in 1753, with eight hundred and 
forty members, paid £2000 to the Indians for their right to 
the Wyoming Valley, in what is now Luzerne County, Penn- 
sylvania. 

The Governor of Pennsylvania appealed to the Governor 
of Connecticut to keep the invaders from his state. The 
protest did not delay the settlement, but the Indian war was 
a hindrance until 1762, when some two hundred men from 
Connecticut settled about a mile from the site on which 
later Wilkes-Barre was built. 

Then began the effort to drive out the emigrants that 
was to end in one of the greatest tragedies of early pioneer 



142 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

life. The Delaware Indians claimed that the lands on which 
the settlement was made had been "sold from under their 
feet," and appealed to the Governor of Pennsylvania to send 
back to Connecticut the men of the Wyoming Valley. The 
Penns also made a like appeal. For many years the In- 
dians and the Penns waged warfare against the hardy 
settlers. ]\Iore than once they were driven out, each time 
with great loss of life, but each time they returned to the 
lands they claimed. The "Pennamite wars," as they were 
called, would have stood a better chance of success if the 
people of Pennsylvania had loved the Penns better, but 
many of the residents of the state sided with the Connecticut 
men. 

Connecticut's temper was shown when, in January, 1774, 
Wyoming, Pennsylvania, was made a part of the new 
Westmoreland County, Connecticut. A settler was sent from 
this section to the Connecticut Legislature to represent the 
six thousand people who owned allegiance to the Nutmeg 
State. 

The day of ^^^•oming's tragedy was July 3, 1778, w'hen 
about seven hundred Indians, perhaps a hundred Tories 
and four hundred British soldiers fell on the defenders of 
Forty Fort. One hundred and sixty men were killed, many 
of them after cruel torture. The story of those who 
escaped to Fort Pennsylvania, where Stroudsburg now 
stands, is a marvelous record of endurance. 

Not even the memory of this awful flight could hold 
back the men of Connecticut from reasserting their rights- 
A few months later another colony tramped through the 
wilderness to the \\'yoming Valley, and many emigrants 
followed for several succeeding years. 

Finally, in 1781, Pennsylvania appealed to Congress to 
settled the controversy. The Commission appointed for the 
purpose decided that the territory within Pennsylvania's 
borders claimed by Connecticut belonged to Pennsylvania. 
Thereupon Pennsylvania refused to give private titles to 
the lands occupied by the hardy settlers. Determined not to 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 143 

be flq^rived of their hard-won homes, the settlers took 
steps to organize the state of Susquehanna, of which Wyom- 
ing was to be the capital. Fortunately Pennsylvania came 
to terms with them, and finally, in 1807, peace settled over 
the Wyoming Valley. 

Long l>efore this Connecticut had resigned her claim to 
the rather indefinite boundaries fixed by her royal charter. 
Massachusetts, New York and Virginia had joined her in 
yielding to Congress their claims to lands in the country 
north of the Ohio. Connecticut, however, reserved a tract 
along Lake Erie, west of Pennsylvania, containing 3,666,- 
291 acres. It is interesting to note that this section was 
equal in size to the lands surrendered in Pennsylvania. In 
1792 the western portion of the Western Reserve was ap- 
propriated by the legislature of Connecticut, for the benefit 
of the people of the towns in the state which had been 
burned by the British during the war. Their portion of 
the Reserve became known as "the Fire Lands." 

At once the men of Connecticut whose hearts beat more 
quickly as they dreamed of conquering the wilderness 
turned their thoughts toward the Lake Erie Country, and 
when, in 1795, Conecticut made a quitclaim deed to the 
trustees of the Connecticut Land Company, for 3,000,000 
acres of the Reserve, in consideration of the payment of 
$r, 200,000, there were hundreds who wished to arrange 
with the Company to cross the six hundred miles of wilder- 
ness that separated them from the region where they 
hoped to make homes for their families. 

It would not have been possible to encourage these first 
applicants for Western Reserve lands by promising them 
good roads across Western New York. There were no 
good roads; in fact, there were practically no roads of any 
sort. 

The opening of the Genesee Country in Northern New 
York a few years after the Revolution led emigrants to 
venture into the wilderness, along the old Iroquois trail, 
to the lands of the Holland Purchase, an immense tract of 



144. ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

more than three million acres, so named because Robert 
Morris, who had acquired it from Massachusetts, had sold 
it to a company backed by residents of Holland. 

Of these early days J. H. Kennedy has told feelingly:^ 

The journey from the East was in itself a terrible ex- 
perience. . . . The springless wagon or the sled, loaded 
with household goods, farming implements, weapons of de- 
fense, and food, with wife and children stowed in comers, 
were the chief vehicle of transportation, and the road a 
mere path through the woods, or a trail ^long which room 
for passage must be cut through the trees. 

As late as 1788 Elkanah Watson declared that the road 
from Albany to Schenectady was in a shameful state. "The 
present road system is a disgrace to this fair state," was the 
verdict. 

Records of the country - tell of the experience of an un- 
named traveler in the wilderness: 

On the 15th of February 1792, I left Albany, on my 
route to the Genesee River, but the Country was thought so 
remote and so very little known that I could not prevail on 
the owner of the stage to engage farther than Whitestown, 
a new settlement at the head of the Mohawk, 100 miles 
from Albany. The road as far as Whitestown had been 
made passable for wagons, but from there to the Genesee 
river was little better than an Indian path, sufficiently 
opened to allow a sled to pass, and some impassable streams 
had been bridged. At Whitestown, I was obliged to change 
my carriage, the Albany man getting alarmed for himself 
and horses when he found that for the next 100 miles we 
were not only obliged to take provisions for ourselves but 
for our horses and blankets for our beds. On leaving 
Whitestown we found only a few straggling huts, scattered 
along the path, from 10 to 20 miles from each other; and 
they offered nothing but the conveniency of fire, and a kind 
of shelter from the snow. 

From Geneva to Canandarqua the road is only the Indian 
path a little improved; ... on this road there were only 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 145 

two families settled. From Canandarqua to the Genesee 
river, 26 miles, it is almost totally uninhabited, only four 
families residing on the road. 

One of the early settlers who came to the Holland Pur- 
chase a little later, is quoted in the same volume ^ as to her 
first home in this country of rough roads : 

It was about ten feet square, flat roofed, covered with 
split ash shingles; the floor was made of the halves of split 
basswood, no chinking; a blanket served the purpose of a 
door for a while, until my husband got time to make a door 
of split plank. We needed no window; the light came in 
where the smoke went out . . . For chairs, we had benches 
made by splitting logs, and setting the sections upon logs. A 
bedstead was made by boring holes in the side of the shanty, 
inserting pieces of timber, which rested upon two upright 
posts in front; a sidepiece completing the structure; pealed 
basswood bark, answering the place of a cord. We of 
course had brought no bed with us on horseback, so one had 
to be procured. We bought a cotton bag, and stufling it 
with cat-tails, it was far better than no bed. 

On March 22, 1794, the Legislature authorized the con- 
struction of the Genesee Road, which was to become the 
great emigrant thoroughfare toward Buffalo. A lottery 
was authorized to raise money for the project, and the peo- 
ple along the route became so enthusiastic that they sub- 
scribed four thousand days' work. 

The road was made sixty-four feet wide. Logs and 
gravel were used freely, especially in marshy ground. 

The first section was completed in 1797, from Fort 
Schuyler to Geneva. Two years later the boast was made 
that "a wagon with two oxen will go twenty miles per day 
with a load of thirty hundredweight." 

In December, 1798, Amos Loveland started westward, 
with his family of seven, and all his worldly goods, packed 
in two sleds, each of which was drawn by a team of horses. 
He was able to make fair progress, but had many trying 
experiences. 



146 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

When President Dwight went through the Mohawk Val- 
ley in September, 1799,* he found the condition of the road 
trying. Many of the bridges were out of repair. "The 
road on the lowlands is good in dry weather," he wrote, 
"but in wet, muddy and extremely disagreeable. On the 
hills it was indifferent, but perhaps as good as could be ex- 
pected in a country so recently settled. . . . Traveling is 
not merely uncomfortable, but a herculean labor." 

In 1804 the road was made a turnpike. In that year Dr. 
Dwight made a trip on the Great Western Turnpike, from 
Manlius to Buffalo. He found the first part of the road in 
fair condition, and noted that settlements were increasing 
rapidly. However, when he was sixteen miles beyond the 
Genesee river, stumps and roots made traveling danger- 
ous. "Mud was knee deep, and so stiff the horse could 
barely extricate himself. The road was a narrow passage, 
newly cut through the forest. After groping and struggling 
for three hours on a distance of four miles, he reached his 
inn, a log house." 

At Batavia he had the choice of two roads to Buffalo 
Creek. One of them was eighteen miles long, with thirteen 
miles of mud, while the second was twenty-three miles long, 
with nine miles of mud. He chose the longer road because 
of the prospect of less mud. 

Improvement came very slowly. Miss Martineau, in her 
account of a trip through the country,^ taken a generation 
later, spoke of the corduroy roads: 

Lastly there is the corduroy road, happily of rare oc- 
currence, where, if the driver is merciful to his passengers, 
he drives so as to give them the association of being on the 
way to a funeral, their involuntary sobs on each jolt helping 
to the resemblance, or, if he be in a hurry, he shakes them 
like pills in a pill box. 

"Such a wretched apology for a highway," said a traveler 
in 1833,^ "ought to have immortalized its inventor's name, 
instead of being called after the coarse cloth which it re- 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 147 

sembles in grain. The man, at least, deserved a patent for 
having discovered a most excruciating method of dislocat- 
ing bones, and an easy method of breaking the axle-trees 
of carriages. 

In July, 1807, Christian Schultz, Junior,"^ made a curious 
trip from New York City to Niagara. The way to Albany 
was easy, for he went by river. To Schenectady, fifteen 
miles, he went on a good turnpike road, but he had to be- 
ware of the wagoners, many of whom, he said, were great 
rogues. 

"Should you chance to have occasion for their services," 
he added, "it will not only be well to be very careful, but, 
likewise, to make your bargain before you employ them, or 
like me, you will have to 'pay for learning'." 

After a water trip of one hundred and four miles from 
Mohawk to Utica, he had a journey by various waterways 
of one hundred and fourteen miles to Oswego. On the 
sailing vessel he had a pleasing experience that made him 
forget many of the vexations of the way: 

The passage money, if any is charged, is about two dol- 
lars, finding your own provisions ; but if you furnish a good 
table, no passage money will be received, and these open- 
hearted fellows always seem much pleased to have gentle- 
men for passengers. 

From Rome to Wood Creek, he made use of a little canal 
which boasted five locks. He said that Wood Creek is 
"celebrated for the size, activity and number of its mosche- 
toes." 

The creek was twelve yards wide. At one place a tree 
had fallen across the stream. The boat was moving rapidly, 
and a bend hid the tree until the boat was almost upon it. 
The captain, seeing that he must strike "the obstruction, 
called on the passengers to look out for themselves. Some 
articles were swept overboard as the tree was struck, in- 
cluding the visitor's trunks. One passenger had no time to 
go aft for safety. He was not to be found when the capn 



148 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

tain was able to look about him, but anxiety was relieved 
when he was discovered perched in the branches of the tree, 
where he had jumped to avoid being crushed. 

After going by lake from Oswego to the Niagara river, 
Schultz went up the river to Niagara. Thence he went on, 
continuing to Fort Erie, making use of "a tolerable horse 
path" on the Canal side, and noting that "the British side is 
one settled street from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario," and 
that "the American side remains almost wholly waste and 
imimproved." 

Continuing his journey from Lake Erie toward Pitts- 
burg he wrote, "I never saw a bad road before." On this 
road three yoke of oxen were able to haul only six barrels 
of salt, and they required from two and a half to three 
days to make fourteen miles. 

On this road mud was frequently up to the knees, as 
he sat in the saddle. At the end of the day both horse and 
rider were covered from head to foot with mud at least 
half an inch thick. He decided to plunge two or three 
dozen times in the river, with all his clothes on. Then it 
was necessary to borrow clothes, for the trunk did not 
overtake him until next day. He found everything in it 
covered with mud, for the wagon to which he had entrusted 
it had overturned in a mud-hole. The trunk, being on top 
of the load, sank to the bottom of the mud-hole, with all 
the other freight heaped on it. 

The terrors of those primitive roads did not deter the 
pioneers who were determined to settle the lands of the 
Western Reserve, which beckoned from just beyond the 
western boundary of New York. In 1796 Moses Cleave- 
land, one the directors of the Connecticut Company, and its 
General Agent, gathered at Schenectady a company of from 
forty-five to fifty, including thirty-seven employees, some 
of them surveyors, and a few emigrants. Two of the men 
in the company were married. Thirteen horses were taken 
along.^ From Schenectady the party went up the Mohawk 
in bateaux. At what is now Rome they took their boats 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 149 

and stores across into Wood Creek, then went on to Oneida 
Lake, and from there to Oswego. There they took passage 
for Niagara. Buffalo was reached on June 17. Here, on 
June 27,, a treaty was concluded with Red Jacket and the 
principal chiefs of the Six Nations, by which the Connecti- 
cut Company was given the right to settle on the Indian 
lands in the Western Reserve. The consideration was £500, 
to be paid in goods to the Western Indians, and two beef 
cattle and one hundred gallons of whiskey to be given to 
the Eastern Indians. 

On June 2y the party left Buffalo and embarked in open 
boats on Lake Erie. Most of them were in the boats, but 
some walked on the bank. 

In his journal General Cleaveland told of the landing: 

On the creek "Conneaugh," in New Connecticut Land, 
July 4, 1796 . . . We gave three cheers and Christened the 
place Fort Independence, and, after many difficulties, per- 
plexities and hardships were surmounted and we were on 
the good and promised land, felt that a just tribute of 
respect to the day ought to be paid. There were in all, in- 
cluding women and children, fifty in number. The men, 
under Captain Tinker, ranged themselves on the beach and 
fired a Federal Salute of fifteen rounds, and then the six- 
teenth in honor of New Connecticut. Drank several toasts. 
Closed with three cheers. Drank several pints of grog. 
Supped and returned in good order. 

Next day a log cabin was built on the bank of Conneaut 
Creek, and this was called Stow Castle, in honor of the 
commissary of the expedition. The roof was brush, wild 
grass and sod. 

Thus another settlement was added to the very few west 
of the Genesee River and east of Detroit. Before the 
Cleaveland party's arrival in New Connecticut these settle- 
ments had been the garrison at Niagara, two families at 
Lewistown, one at Buffalo and one at Sandusky. There 
were a few adventurers at the Salt Springs of the Mahon- 



150 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

ing, but with this exception the interior of New Connecticut 
was a wilderness. 

General Cleaveland was called Moses, "becauses he had 
led his followers into the wilderness." Then, like Joshua, 
he proved a good leader in opening the new country for the 
wilderness wanderers. He sent surveyors into the interior, 
he held councils with the suspicious Indians, in 1796 he 
cleared six acres of land and sowed the first seed, and he 
founded a settlement which was named Cleaveland in his 
honor. The name became Cleveland because of the act of 
the editor of an early paper published there, who omitted 
the "a" since there was no room for it in the headline 
of his paper. From that day the shorter form came to be 
accepted. 

One of General Cleaveland's most helpful acts was the 
laying out, in 1797, of the Girdled Road from the Pennsyl- 
vania line to Cleveland. This followed an old Indian trail, 
along the lake shore, which was indicated by blazed trees. 

In 1800 Connecticut surrendered to the United States 
all claim to civil jurisdiction over the Western Reserve, and 
on July 10, 1800, Governor St. Clair created Trumbull 
County, in which the new settlements were included. At 
the first election held in Warren, forty-two votes were cast. 

In less than three years, on February 19, 1803, Ohio be- 
came a state in the Union by the act of Congress providing 
for "the execution of the laws of the United States within 
the State of Ohio." 

The character of the population of the new state had 
been determined by the ordinance of 1787, making the 
whole Northwestern Territory free territory. Thus this 
was "the first new state that did not 'just grow,' like Ten- 
nessee and Kentucky." ® 

From the beginning emigrants were attracted to the coun- 
try north of the Ohio and south of Lake Erie from 
New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. The non- 
slave holding farmers of the South Atlantic states, as well 
as those from Tennessee and Kentucky, flocked in. How 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 151 

these Southerners looked on the opportunities offered by 
Ohio is seen from a curious document addressed by James 
Tongue to "The Middhng People of Maryland." ^^^ In this 
he wrote what probably turned the thoughts of many lovers 
of freedom to the Western Reserve. 

It is the duty of those who are in a more humble or 
dependent condition in life to struggle with all their power 
to elevate themselves and their families. This can never 
be done by a residence in Maryland. 

I have been years devoting myself to acquire a knowl- 
edge of the several states and territories, to ascertain which 
presented the greatest and most certain natural advantages. 

Southern states — no ; burning heat & slavery the diffi- 
culties. This cannot be that safe, certain, and happy coun- 
try, in which I could wish to plant my children and my 
grandchildren. 

He studied the country west of the Mississippi, but was 
disgusted by the thought of claims and counter-claims which 
would not be settled for generations. In Tennessee and 
Kentucky he found slavery and disputed titles. 

Vermont and Maine were locked up in eternal frost for 
six months in the year. Michigan, he declared was marshy 
and was inundated seven months in the year, and the coun- 
try for months was very cold. 

Indiana was one vast prairie without wood or water; it 
was distant from market, and the colonial government was 
not likely to be changed in his lifetime. 

Then he turned to Ohio, "the only place that combined 
certainty of title with richness of soil, conveniency to mar- 
ket, relief from the evils of slavery, an invaluable fishing, 
convenience of water communication, and a climate both 
healthy and agreeable." 

The section of all others in Ohio, he said, was New Con- 
necticut. "Here, fellow-citizens, after the most mature re- 
flection, and the most complete information I could ac- 
quire, I have determined to settle myself and family, at 
some place not very distant from the lake." 



152 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Then he proceeded to set forth in detail reasons why the 
Middling People of Maryland should follow his example. 

Jacob Russell of Connecticut was one of the early emi- 
grants to the Cleveland country. He traveled with an ox 
team, his wife riding alongside on horseback. When they 
reached the Reserve, he left her and returned for their 
children. One of them, years later, recorded her ex- 
periences : " 

Our journey was attended with the greatest suffering. 
My youngest sister was sick all the way, dying three days 
after our arrival. Father was then taken down with ague, 
so our new house was built slowly. With the greatest 
difficulty mother hewed with an adze the stub ends of the 
floor boards, and put them close down with the little help 
father could give her. 

In 1 80 1 Timothy Doane's wife and children followed 
him from Buffalo to Cleveland. One of the sons, at that 
time three years old, when he was a man, wrote a description 
of the trip : 

Besides the four children, mother was accompanied by 
an Indian and several white men, whom she had hired to 
assist us on the journey. We came by Lake Erie ... in 
an ordinary row-boat, propelled by oars most of the way, 
but frequently by a tow-line in the hands of the Indian, who 
walked along the bank. ... At the mouth of Grand river 
the boat was overturned, and loss of lives was prevented 
only because the water was shallow. 

Other families came in two-wheeled carts, some on small 
wagons to which but one horse was attached . . . Streams 
had to be crossed by any means that could be improvised. 
... It was not unusual for a team to give out, and a week 
or even a fortnight be allowed for recuperation. 



II. FROM LAND TO WATER 

Hope and Courage whispered, Go, 

Ye who toil and ye who wait, 
Opportunities in starlight, lo, 

Open swing the people's gate ! 
Beyond the mountains and under the skies 
Of the Wonderful West your future lies, 
On the banks of the Beautiful River, 

By the shores of the Lakes of the North, 
There fortune to each will deliver 

His share of the teeming earth. 

— W. H. Venable. 

The first great improvement in transportation to the 
Western Reserve came when the Walk-in-the-Water, the 
first steamboat on the Great Lakes, was built. An eye- 
witness of the vessel's first voyage described it thus: ^^ 

On the twenty-fourth day of August, 1818, an entire 
novelty — the Hke of which not one in five hundred of the 
inhabitants had ever seen — presented itself before the peo- 
ple of Cuyahoga County. On that day the residents along 
the lake shore of Euclid saw upon the lake a curious kind 
of vessel making what was considered very rapid progress 
westward, without the aid of sails, while from a pipe near 
the middle rose a dark cloud of smoke, which trailed its 
gloomy length far into the rear of the swift-gliding mysteri- 
ous traveller on the deep. They watched its westward 
course until it turned its prow toward the harbor of Cleve- 
land; and then turned back to their work. Many of them 
doubtless knew what it was, but some shook their heads in 
sad surmise as to whether some evil power were not at 
work introducing such a strange phenomenon as that on 
the bosom of their beloved Lake Erie. Meanwhile the 
citizens of Cleveland, perceiving the approach of the 
monster, hastened to the lake shore to examine it. "What 

153 



154 ON THE TRAIL OF THE TIONEERS 

is it? What is it? Where did it come from? What makes 
it go ?" queried one and another of the excited throng. "It's 
the steamboat! That's what it is!" cried others in reply. 
"Yes! Yes! It's the steamboat!" was the general shout, 
and with ringing cheers the people watched the first vessel 
propelled by steam that had ever traversed the waters of 
Lake Erie. 

For thousands of emigrants the journey to the West was 
made simple by this pioneer of modern lake transportation. 
What a sigh of relief they must have breathed when they 
were able to put behind them the struggles with roads of all 
sorts, or of no sort, ajid let steam take them the remainder 
of the way to the desired haven! 

The development of steamboats on the lakes led an early 
historian to exclaim : ^^ 

The West! — A name given only a few years since to a 
remote, boundless and unsettled wilderness, inhabited only 
by roving bands of wild Indians, and savage animals — 
visited only by the Indian trader, or some romantic spirit 
pleased with the novelty of an adventure into unknown 
regions, — a country which it appeared centuries must 
pass away before settlement and civilization would 
occupy it — has suddenly, as if by magic, with the powerful 
aid of steam, and the indomitable enterprise, industry and 
perseverance of a free people, with the blessings of free in- 
stitutions, securing to all the fruits of their own Jabor, been 
reclaimed from the wilderness. All physical difficulties 
have been overcome, this vast region of country has been 
penetrated in all quarters. . . . 

It remained for the Erie Canal to make easy the journey 
from Albany tO' Buffalo. As early as 1804 Gouverneur 
Morris had suggested this artificial waterway, which would 
divert trade from Canada and would be an important factor 
in linking the West to the East, and so supplying the cement 
of interest to prevent the catastrophe of which Washington 
^ave a note of warning when he said : 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 155 

The Western States stand, as it were, upon a pivot — the 
touch of a feather would turn them any way. 

Years passed, however, before anything was done. It 
was hoped that Congress would undertake the building of 
the canal, but Congress did not see the way to do this. One 
enthusiastic writer^* spoke of the disappointment of Con- 
gress that receipts from the sale of public lands had been 
so small, and suggested the building of the canal as a 
remedy. He said: 

In relation to this subject the Canal must be viewed 
with great interest. It has even been estimated by very dis- 
cerning calculators that should the national government 
make the whole Canal from the Hudson to the Lakes, at 
an expense of five millions of dollars, the rise it would pro- 
duce in the sale of public lands must remunerate the dis- 
bursements of the nation in ten or fifteen years. This esti- 
mate, in all probability, is very nearly correct. Certain it is, 
that their value must depend on a disposition to settle 
them ; and they must be settled and reclaimed from a wilder- 
ness state by emigrants from the eastern section of our 
union, and other thick settled parts of the country. What 
are now the greatest objections to taking up and inhabiting 
these public lands? The difficulties and expenses of emigra- 
tion and the want of a ready market for surplus produce. 

Remove these objections, and the stream of emigration 
would be broad, deep and constant, as that great and 
gigantic flood, sent forth from the Lakes, whose borders 
it would people. Towns, villages and cities would spring 
up, and emerge from the bosom of the wilderness, as 
though the soil was smitten by some potent and creative 
wand of enchantment. . . . 

The character of the emigrants too will be much im- 
proved by our canal. A great proportion of the population 
which has poured into the western country for the last few 
years, has been honest, enterprising, but needy, and forced 
upon adventure by necessity. Their object has been, sub- 
sistence and comfort for their numerous families. But 
when ready markets, with easy and regular transportation 



156 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

are opened to these countries, men of capital and men, too, 
of higher standing, as agriculturists, will be induced to leave 
an old for a new and more genial soil. Foreign emigrants 
of large fortunes will also be induced to cast a favorable 
eye on these tempting territories. 



Excavations for this, the greatest work yet attempted in 
America, were begun in 1817. On October 23, 1819, the 
waterway was opened from Utica to Rome. In 1825 the 
finishing touches were put to what Hulbert calls a "forty- 
foot waterway in the center of a sixty-foot aisle from Lake 
Erie to the Hudson," much of which had to be cut through 
the virgin forest. 

The part played by the Erie Canal in the development of 
the country is indicated by the fact that between 1820 and 
1840 the population of New York State jumped from i,- 
372,812 to 2,428,921. Along the route of the canal towns 
were built, cities grew like mushrooms, and farm lands 
were developed. Pennsylvania gained somewhat, but Ohio 
was the greatest gainer, outside of New York. The towns 
in the Western Reserve grew rapidly. Indiana did not feel 
the impulse to a great extent, as, somehow, comparatively 
few of the emigrants who went by the northern route 
stopped within her borders. Illinois made a great growth 
between 1825 and 1830, and in the next ten years the ad- 
vance was startling. 

The majority of those who came from New England fol- 
lowed the Erie Canal, Lake Erie, and wagon roads on- 
ward. 

Lois Kimball Matthews says: 

So great was the influx of Puritan stock, that the per- 
sonnel of representatives and senators from Illinois had by 
1850 changed greatly and the revision of the State Con- 
stitution in 1847-8 provided for the adoption of the town- 
ship system or the county system as the majority of voters 
might decide.^ ^ 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 157 

Michigan's boom began in 1830. In 1837 emigrants 
were singing: 

Then there's old Varmount, well, what d'you think of that? 
To be sure the gals are handsome and the cattle very fat: 
But who among the mountains, 'mid cloud and snow would stay, 
When he can buy a prairie, in Michigania? 
Yea, yea, yea, in Michigania. 

Then there's the State of New York, where some arc very rich; 
Themselves and a few others have dug a mighty ditch. 
To render it more easy for us to find the way 
And sail upon the waters to Michigania. 
Yea, yea, yea, to Michigania. 

» 

Lanman, in his history of Michigan, said in 1839 that 
the Erie Canal "unfolds a new avenue to the prosperity of 
Michigan," a territory which had been "obliged to grapple 
with the obstacles springing from its remote position, and 
the want of convenient modes of transportation of articles 
of large bulk on the land between Albany and Lake Erie." 
The opening of the canal provided for emigrants "cheap 
and easy transportation for themselves and their merchan- 
dise, and this line of communication continued to be 
crowded with settlers who broke up their establishments in 
the less generous soil of the East, and were advancing to 
plant themselves in the land of promise on the Lakes." 

"To these New England emigrants Michigan owed its 
New England's character," Lois Kimball Matthews says in 
quoting Lanman. Then she concludes : 

The Erie canal, then, was a very substantial aid in push- 
ing the frontier farther to the west and the northwest. 
Owing its inception to a time when New York and Penn- 
sylvania were on the frontier, its completion was the signal 
for making the more sparsely inhabited portions of those 
states as densely settled as the banks of the Hudson. It 
was by this route that the descendants of those Pilgrims and 
Puritans who had l^een frontier-builders in 1620 and 1630, 
pushed on to build states on new lines in the old Northwest. 



158 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Here they met descendants of that other Hne of pioneers 
who began their frontier-building upon the James River in 
1607. Forced to yield in some points the New Englanders 
could force their own standards in some other respects, and 
so preserve certain of their traditions. To the Erie canal, 
then, may be ascribed, in no uncertain measure, certain dis- 
tinctive Puritan traits and characteristics which have 
entered into the making of what is to-day the northeastern 
portion of our great "Middle West." 

Journals of early travelers give interesting details of the 
trip through the Erie Canal. In 1826 Dr. Estes of the 
Rensselaer school of Troy, New York, chartered a canal 
boat to take sixteen or eighteen of his pupils on a natural 
history trip.^® 

This historian of the expedition said: 

Besides clothing I carry with me a small trunk and a 
carpet-bag, the latter, in which the greater part of my goods 
are stuffed, will make a comfortable pillow, while my blue 
camblet cloak will serve as a bed. 

The expense of the trip was not to exceed $20 for each 
person. The slow method of travel gave ample opportunity 
to make natural history observations along the road. The 
greatest delay came at the locks, owing to the number of 
boats by which they were thronged. 

In June, 1827, Captain Basil Hall ^'^ with his wife and 
daughter, left the private stage by which they were going 
to Buffalo, that they might have a day's experience on the 
canal boat. Captain Hall wrote: 

We left Schenectady in the canal packet, and were towed 
along at the rate of three miles and a half per hour upon 
the average. . . . We were fully under the avowed con- 
sciousness of being very happy, with a boundless field of 
novel interest stretching far before us. 

Nothing on earth, however, it should seem, is without 
some drawback, and our day dreams accordingly were 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 159 

much disturbed by the necessity of stepping hastily down 
off the deck as often as we had to pass under one of the 
innumerable little bridges built across the canal. Their 
height was barely sufficient for the boat to shoot through 
and at first, when called to by the steersman, "Bridge! — 
Passengers ! — mind the low bridge !" it was rather amusing 
to hop down and then to hop up again; but by and by, this 
skipping about became very tiresome, and marred the 
tranquillity of the day very much. 

There are two cabins in these canal barges ; one of which 
is for the ladies, and really not very uncomfortable-looking. 
In the gentlemen's cabin there was no appearance of beds, 
only a line of lockers along each side. After supper, how- 
ever, about 8 o'clock, I was surprised to see these lockers 
folded out into a range of beds. But what struck me as 
being extremely ingenious was a second or higher tier of 
sleeping births, formed by a number of broad shelves, as 
it were; little frames with laced sacking bottoms, hinged 
to the sides of the cabin midway between the roof or upper 
deck and the lower beds. 

These airy resting places, or mats, were held in their 
horizontal position at night by two supporting cords 
fastened to the roof of the cabin, and, in the day time were 
allowed to hang down against the vessel's side like the leaf 
of a table. 

One day on the canal was quite enough, and the stage 
was taken next day. 

In 1829 Colonel William L. Stone, editor of the New 
York Commercial, used the canal. ^^ He wrote: 

Sept. 4. Left Utica ... in a new and splendid canal 
packet boat for the West. She is truly a superior boat, 
fitted up with the elegance and taste of a North river 
steamer, though on a smaller scale. 

Next day, at Syracuse, he exclaimed at the transforma- 
tion, due to the Erie Canal, in large measure. He saw a 
city where nine years before he had seen but five or six 



160 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

scattered tenements, "the village being surrounded by a 
desolate, poverty-stricken woody country, enough to make 
an owl weep to fly over it." 

October 5. On way from Albion to Lockport. Stepping 
ashore a moment while the boat stopp't to water the horses 
in order to look more at the village, I was surprised to find 
on turning round that the boat was off, and a bend in the 
canal had thrown it out of sight, as if by magic. I lost 
some moments in the vain endeavor to get a horse to follow 
on; but was compelled to test my own speed, which, hin- 
dered with a heavy overcoat, and an asthmatic affection, 
was none of the fleetest. However, after running about a 
mile, I came near enough to hail the boat, at the moment 
I was so much exhausted that I could not have run another 
rod for an estate. 

October 19 . . . Every berth and settee, and all the space 
on the floor was occupied before 10 o'clock, with horizontal 
exhibitions of the human frame divine; and a squalling 
child in the ladies' cabin and a bull-necked snoring man in 
the stern . . . banished refreshing sleep. It was a sad 
night for all, especially the ladies. N. B. Little children, 
and people who snore, have no business on board of a 
packet boat. 

Mrs. Caroline Spencer went from New York to Niagara 
in 1835. At Schenectady she stepped on a canal boat. She 
said : ^® 

The boat was exceedingly pleasant, and it seemed such 
a relief from the hot bustling steamboat and the close, 
hurried railroad car, to the quiet movement of the canal 
boat. The windows of the boat are sufficiently large to 
make the views pleasant from them. . . . We ascended sev- 
eral locks during the day, at each of which we had an op- 
portunity of leaving the boat and walking a short distance 
if we chose. 

In 1837 Harriet Martineau took passage on a canal boat 
at Utica. She was not altogether pleased : -^ 




P^rum "Frontier Furtt< of Peinisi/Ivania" 



FORTY FORT IN' 1778 




/ '"1. i...,,,„.w ilallmj (if American Landscape' 



ON A NEW YORK WATERWAY 




From "The Magazine of American Hist or ij" 

OLD FORT VAN RENSSELAER, CANAJOHARIE, NEW YORK 




From School (■ ni f I'. -< •• 11 isl orical Condifionti and Prospects 
of the Indians In I he Fnited States" 



CHICAGO IN 1820 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 161 

I would never advise ladies to travel by canal, unless the 
boats are quite new and clean ; or, at least, far better kept 
than any that I saw or heard of on this canal. On fine 
days it is pleasant enough outside (except for having to 
duck under the bridges every quarter of an hour, under 
penalty of having one's head crushed to atoms, and in dark 
evenings the approach of the boatlights on the water is a 
pleasant sight; but the horrors of night and of wet days 
more than compensate for all the advantages these vehicles 
can boast. 

The heat and noises, the vicinity of a compressed crowd, 
lying packed like herrings in a barrel, the bumping against 
the side of the locks, and the hissing of the water therein 
like an inundation, startling one from sleep; these things 
are very disagreeable. . . . If there be a duty more obvious 
than another on board a canal boat, it is to walk on the bank 
occasionally in fine weather, or, at least, to remain outside 
in order to air the cabin (close enough at best) and get 
rid of the scents of the table before the unhappy passengers 
are shut up to sleep there. 

The appearance of the berths in the ladies' cabin was so 
repulsive that we were seriously contemplating sitting out 
all night, when it began to rain, so as to leave us no choice. 

Charges of extortion were made by many of the emi- 
grants and it is certain that in some cases these charges 
were justified by the facts. From the first, efiforts were 
made to hold in check those who preyed on the travelers, 
but it seemed impossible to correct the trouble altogether. 
Even as late as 1847 ^^ ^n official examination of witnesses 
by the state developed humiliating facts. A man whose 
business it was to forward Americans from New York 
owned : 

It is a fact that I and others engaged in the business get 
all we can from passengers, except that I never shave a lady 
that is traveling alone, it is bad enough to shave a man. I 
have all I get over a certain amount which is paid to the 
transportation companies. . . . The passenger goes from 
here to Albany by steamboat; to Schenectady by railroad; 



162 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

then by line boat to Buffalo; I have represented in many 
instances to passengers that they would be forwarded by 
packet on the canal ; but when they arrived at Schenectady 
they were sent by line boat.* 

* Line boats traveled at the sedate pace of two and a half miles 
an hour. Travelers who were willing to pay an extra rate of fare 
went by limited packet boats, which made few stops and thus were able 
to cover an average distance of something like the four miles which 
the state law allowed; they could go from Albany to Buffalo in six 
days. 



III. ALL THE WAY TO THE MISSISSIPPI 

When the hill of toil was steepest, 
When the forest-frown was deepest, 

Poor, but young, you hastened here; 
Came when solid hope was cheapest — 

Came a pioneer. 
Made the western jungle view 

Civilization's charms; 
Snatched a home for yours and you, 

From the lean tree-arms. 
Toil had never ceased to doubt you, — 

Progress' path you helped to clear; 
But To-day forgets about you, 
And the world rides on without you — 

Sleep, old pioneer ! 

—Will Carleton. 

Those who were able to travel by canal boat were not so 
well prepared for the struggle of pioneer life on the West- 
ern Reserve as those who toiled through the almost un- 
broken wilderness during the first days of New Connecticut. 
These hardy emigrants took as a matter of course such ex- 
periences as that of Rev. Joseph Badger, the first minister 
in the section, who spent one night in a tall tree, tied to a 
limb by his bandana, lest he fall during sleep, while a bear 
kept company with his horse at the foot of the beech. 

A settler who had gone a day's journey to get food for 
his family left his wife and children at home : 

Before he left the cabin was made to look forsaken — as 
though the family had suddenly removed from it."^ Cook- 
ing utensils and such other implements as they possessed 
w^ere hid in the woods. No fire was kindled. The slabs, 
split out of logs with the axe — called puncheons — which 
had been laid down as a floor, were taken up and thrown 

163 



164 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

confusedly around — principally piled in one corner of the 
building. Under these an excavation was made in the 
ground, and some bed clothes thrown down, where the 
woman and her child might be concealed if she saw signs 
that Indians were in the vicinity. Here this brave pioneer 
woman had slept, or rather watched one weary night. 
Early the next morning as she looked out stealthily through 
the chinks of the cabin, she perceived Indians lurking upon 
the edge of the clearing. She hastened with her infant child 
to her place of concealment under the floor. The Indians, 
when they supposed they had satisfied themselves that the 
cabin was forsaken, came in and examined the premises to 
see if anything were left worth appropriating. While they 
remained, the woman lay nursing her child to keep it from 
movement and noise. Once or twice the movement of the 
little one, it seemed to her, would surely betray her; but 
the talk and tramping of the Indians prevented their quick 
ears from catching the sound from beneath. In a short 
time they hastened away, fearing, perhaps, an ambush at- 
tack by the settlers. The husband returned, heard the story 
of his wife's peril, and removed his family to the "block- 
house," a frontier fort, and hastened to give warning to 
the pioneers that Indians were prowling upon their border. 

Probably the quaintest figure of the early days in the 
Western Reserve was the mysterious Jonathan Chapman, 
who came into the territory in 1801 with a wagon load of 
apple seeds, gathered from the cider presses in Western 
Pennsylvania.^^ 

From that day he seemed to have but one object in life 
— to see that the settlers, who had all they could do to look 
after the bare necessities of existence, were provided with 
young apple trees. He was always thinking of his young 
orchards, which he planted here and there, growing the 
trees from seeds. As he traveled from place to place he 
dreamed of the future when the whole Western Reserve 
would be filled with apple orchards. As "Johnny Apple- 
seed," he was known far and near. 

It was his way to keep just a little in advance of the new- 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 165 

est settlements. On the sheltered banks of some stream he 
would set out a little nursery, making a slight enclosure, and 
taking steps to protect the tender shoots from destruction. 
He had dozens of these nurseries, which he visited as con- 
stantly as a trapper makes the rounds of his traps, and as 
lovingly as a mother goes at night from bed to bed in the 
home nursery. When the trees were ready for transplant- 
ing, he was accustomed to leave them in charge of some one 
as his agent, with instructions to sell them at a nominal 
price, or to give them to people who could pay nothing. 
Gradually he made his way farther westward, into Indiana 
and up to Michigan, but always he returned periodically 
to look after the orchards in the older settlements and to 
greet those who were enjoying the fruit for which he had 
spent himself so unselfishly. 

Always there was a fresh supply of emigrants who fol- 
lowed Johnny Appleseed in his pilgrimages through the 
forests. The day came when his orchards invited them over 
into the Michigan Territory. 

In the spring of 1833 the father of Mrs. Withey took his 
four little daughters to Richland, then Gull Prairie, Mich- 
igan. They did not need to toil through the Western 
ReseiA^e, but were able to take the far easier journey by 
lake boat from Buffalo to Detroit. By ox wagon they went 
to their destination, where they lived in the typical settler's 
cabin. "How that house did look every time it rained!" 
Mrs. Withey said.^* "We had to cover the beds with tin 
pans and dishes to catch the water." 

Four years later Jesse Munro went from Buffalo, where 
he had paused for more than twenty years on his way from 
Vermont, through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, 
to Michigan.^^ When he left Buffalo, in company with 
others, he had no idea of going to Michigan. Later his 
daughter wrote: 

They had been "Michiganders," as they were called, re- 
turning to the state of New York. Their sallow com- 



166 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

plexions and the tales they told of shaking with the fever 
and ague made my father think that ^Michigan was no place 
for him. Nevertheless they decided to see for themselves. 

Much to their surprise they found the state satisfactor}-. 
Later he went back for his family. They traveled by steam 
to Detroit, and from there they went by wagon. 

The first day out from Detroit, we went only ten miles. 
The road was simply terrible. There were places where 
there were half a dozen tracks where different travelers had 
endeavored to get around the deep mud holes, but each one 
seemed equally bad. The wagon wheels would sink below 
the hubs, and our team was powerless to draw the load. 
There was little travel through the country as inhabitants 
were far apart. \Mierever there was an inhabitant we 
found hospitality. We were never obliged to go further 
for accommodations. We were asked to share with them 
what they had. 

One place I remember where there was a large log house 
with very wide doors. After supper the doors were thrown 
open, the two being on opposite sides of the house; a yoke 
of oxen then drew a log ten feet long and three feet in 
diameter through one door and rolled it into the fireplace 
for a back log. Another log two feet through was drawn 
in and placed on top of the first one for a back stick; a 
third one of similar size by the same process was placed on 
large stones in place of andirons for a forestick ; smaller 
split wood was then piled upon these logs and then there 
was a fire to last twenty-four hours, with a few additions 
of small sticks during the next day. ^ 

Finally the party were within six miles of their destina- 
tion. It was necessary to clear a road through the forest 
for this distance. The best of the trees cut were saved for 
the log house. The lumber used in making the door and 
window casings was from the boxing of the furniture. 

Among the records of pioneer days one of the most sug- 
gestive is that of A. H. Conant,^® who started west in 
September, 1832, a month before he was twenty-one. He 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 167 

went by canal to Saratoga, New York. At Schenectady he 
saw for the first time a railroad, on which were two cars, 
fastened together, and carrying from twenty to thirty pas- 
sengers, all drawn by one horse at a speed of a mile in five 
minutes. 

From Bufifalo he went to Detroit by steam, and from De- 
troit to Chicago on foot. This he did both for reasons of 
economy and that he might see the country. 

He started from Detroit on the worst roads he had ever 
seen. On the Cold \\'ater Prairie he saw six deer in one 
herd. He stopped three days at Niles, a town of four stores 
and two taverns, where he built a chimney and taught a 
class of four young men some of the principles of stenog- 
raphy, and so made more than his expenses. The night 
after leaving Niles he was lost in a swamp and plunged 
about until his shouts were heard and he was rescued. 

After crossing from Michigan to Indiana he stopped 
one night in Indiana at the house of a Frenchman who was 
married to a squaw and lived on the Indian lands, with no 
other houses for fifty miles. He devoted himself to fleecing 
travelers who either slept with him or stopped in the woods. 

When the traveler was five days out from Detroit he 
reached Chicago, where there was nothing worth noting 
except Fort Dearborn. In his journal he expressed the 
opinion that the town would become a place of considerable 
importance. 

After an hour he pushed on, and that night he slept with 
a wagoner under his wagon. 

At the Du Page he was told that not less than one hundred 
houses had been built during three years in a circuit of 
twenty-five miles. 

Near the Bureau river he lost his way, but found it by 
the light of the prairie fires that night. 

Next day he discovered that the wolves in the region were 
ver}' troublesome, destroying many sheep and hogs. Wild 
honey was so abundant on the bluff and river banks that 
bee-hunters sold it for three cents a pound. 



168 OX THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

One day he was lost on the prairie, because he was un- 
able to see a single tree, "any more than if he had been in 
the middle of the Atlantic." 

From this prospecting trip he returned to the East, and 
three years later he returned and settled on the banks of 
the Des Plaines river, about twenty miles northwest of 
Chicago. He kept a journal from Januar\', 1836 to May, 
1840. The entries were brief, but it is one of the truest 
pictures of frontier life available. Here are a few extracts: 



1836, Jan. I. Attended to the sur^-ey of my claim. 

2. Drew rails. 

3. Sunday. \\'rote poetn,-. 

4. !Made shelves and split rails. 

5. Went to Chicago with a load of potatoes. 

6. Sold my potatoes for seventy-live cents 

a bushel. 

7. Cut apples, worked at my house, husked 

com. 

8. Attended a meeting of settlers for se- 

curing to each man his present claim. 

9. Cut rail timber. 

10. Sunday. \\'ent to Chicago. 

11. Commenced thrashing. 

12. Still thrashing. 

1836 Attended a meeting called to get the mail 

route changed from Chicago to Green 
Bay, from the beach of the lake to 
Auxplaines River. 
Brought in a deer . . . iMade a coffin for 
!Mrs. Dougherty, and helped to bur}' 
her. Made and bottomed chairs. 
May 10. ]\Irs. Hoard and Betsy Kelsey arrived. 

11. Planted com and prepared for the wed- 

ding. 

12. ^larried Betsy Kelsey. 

June 3. ]\Iade a table, and borrowed six bushels 
of potatoes, to be paid back with in- 
terest in the fall. 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 169 

Tune 4. Wife eighteen to-day. IMade a few 
articles of furniture. ^lade a churn. 
September Heard big wolves howling . . . Hunted 
deer . . . Worked at Shoemaking . . , 
Made a coffin for H. Dougherty . , . 
Plastered my house . . . Dressed pig 
and calves torn by wolves . . . Dug a 
well . . . Killed a badger . . . Killed a 
"vvolf . . . Corn half destroyed by black- 
birds . . . Set out shade trees . . . Took 
up a bee-tree to hive for honey . . . 
Hunted deer. 

1837. !Made a ditching machine . . . Hunted 

panther . . . Made a chest of drawers 
. . . Went to a bridge-raising. 

1838. Made a back-kitchen . . . Hewed timber 

for a bam . . . j\Iade a wagon . . . Made 

a cheese-press . . . Sister Harriet died 

. . . Made a coffin for Sister Harriet 

. , . Attended Sister Harriet's funeral. 

When, on May 15, 1837, Elbridge G. Fifield -'^ joined a 
party of eleven persons, bound from Vermont for the Rock 
River valley, in \\'isconsin Territory, they chose a route 
similar to that taken by ]\Ir. Conant. 

The party traveled by stage to Burlington, Vermont, and 
then went by steamer to Whitehall, New York. They took 
line-boats on the Northern Canal to Troy, and on the Erie 
Canal to Buffalo: thence they went by steamer to Detroit. 
As it was impossible to secure passage from Detroit to 
Chicago, a wagon was hired to take the women and chil- 
dren across Michigan to St. Joseph. The men walked. 

From St. Joseph a small sailing vessel was taken for 
Chicago. There they stopped at the best hotel to be found : 
the women had beds, but the men slept on the floor, on 
Indian blankets. 

They arrived in IMilwaukee twenty-six days after leaving 
Vermont, the last stage of the journey being made by 
schooner. 



170 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Mr. Fifield started at once into the interior to a sawmill 
where he hoped to find work. Following the blazed trail 
and the wagon track, he went through the Milwaukee woods 
to Prairie Village (now Waukesha) where was a solitary 
double log-house. He found a house one mile farther along 
the road, but learned that there was not another habitation 
for thirty miles. 

He had not advanced far along the thirty mile stretch 
when a man on horseback overtook him and proposed that 
they play the game called "ride-and-tie." "You take the 
pony, and put him through on a canter for a mile or so, 
then tie, and walk on," the explanation was made. "I will 
do the same, overtaking and passing you." The game was 
played throughout the journey. 

At the sawmill he was employed to drive a four-ox-team. 
Thus he was much relieved, for he had left but $2.50 of the 
$42 he had borrowed in Vermont to pay the expenses of 
the trip. 

During the summer he made a claim on the bank of Rock 
river. In December, 1837, he took an ax, a ham and a 
blanket, walked to his claim, and began to make the im- 
provements necessary tO' hold the land until spring. For 
four weeks he chopped timber, split rails and built fences. 
Then he returned to work at the sawmill. 

During the winter he picked enough cattail flags to make 
a bed, caught and salted a keg of fish, bought a yoke of 
oxen, and prepared to work the claim in the spring. In 
April, 1838, he borrowed the hind wheels of a wagon, put 
in a temporary tongue and box, loaded his shanty outfit, 
drove along the river, ferrying across twice, cut his own 
three-mile road through the timber, and reached his claim. 
The next day he took the borrowed wagon back down the 
river, and immediately returned to his land. There he 
cleared two acres, made a harrow with wooden teeth, and 
planted the land with corn and potatoes. 

At this period transportation on the Wisconsin river 
was by the Durham boats, similar to those used on the Dela- 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 171 

ware and Susquehanna rivers.^^ This was a curious cata- 
maran of from fifty-five to sixty feet in length, ten. to 
twelve feet beam, two and one-half feet deep, drawing eigh- 
teen to twenty inches, and carrying from twenty-five to 
thirty tons of freight. 

The steering oar was hewn from a pine tree twenty feet 
long, and its blade was twelve inches wide and three or 
four feet long. The chief propelling power was the socket 
pole, handled by a strong man. This was made of ash, 
fifteen feet long. At the top was a button, designed to give 
the pressure on the shoulder of the strong man. 

One day, when he was an old man, William Powell told 
the Secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society of a 
sample trip with one of these boats. 

Seven men compose my crew, for my boat is large and 
heavily loaded. Six is the ordinary crew, besides the cap- 
tain or steersman. A three mile gait of the poleman moves 
the boat at each set a little more than its length, which 
gives, in ordinary water, a speed of over three miles an 
hour. 

It requires as much skill and tact to handle the pole and 
get all there is in it of force as a propeller, as to use the car. 
Notice how the men set and handle the pole — those on the 
left side of the boat grasp this with the right hand just 
below the button (the socket being in the water), and with 
a twist of the wrist and the help of the right knee the pole 
is thrown into the right position. The button is then 
brought to the shoulder and the force applied. This is 
done so quickly and deftly that it seems like one motion. 
Upon reaching the stern of the Avalk-board the poleman 
quickly rises, gives the pole a twist to disengage it from the 
bottom, and at the same time turns and grasps it with his 
left hand, walks to the bow, and sets again. They must all 
set together and at the same time. The disengaged hand is 
always ready to grasp anything in its reach, either to in- 
crease the force of the push, or to save oneself from going 
overboard if the pole should slip on the bottom. 



172 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 
Along the shore were the claims of the first settlers : 

They are from two to five or six acres wide, and extend 
back from the river eighty acres or more. Their owners 
have cleared and cultivated just enough to supply their 
present wants, leaving the original forest on either side. All 
that each Frenchman wanted was a narrow strip of land on 
the river front, where he could catch his fish (which he 
called his pork barrel), and the forest behind for v/ood and 
timber. As he cleared land he raised potatoes, wheat, oats 
and other grain, while with gun and rod he supplied the rest 
of his provender whether of fish, flesh, or fowl. 

The route taken by Sarah Foote, pioneer of 1846^ from 
Ohio to Wisconsin, was by road through Southern Michigan 
and Northern Indiana, as she indicated in her journal.^® Of 
the start she said : 

April 14, 1846. The last night for us in our old home in 
Wellington, Ohio, for all our things are packed, and all but 
what we most need have been sent on by water to Mil- 
waukee. The rest of the things nearly fill a large wagon. 
Father, mother, Mary, Sarah, Orlena, Alvin and Lucy are 
to ride in the family buggy. 

The experiences of the first day or two were pleasant. 
Then there was a halt at a wayside blacksmith shop to set 
a loose wagon tire. Two or three miles farther on the 
women were asked to leave the buggy, as the reach was 
broken. So we called to Alvin to bring the axe, and while 
we girls and mother walked on, they fixed the buggy good 
and strong with sticks that they cut, and a rope from the 
wagon. 

Soon after crossing the line into Michigan the party came 
to a great swamp. We all walked most of the time, for 
the travelling was so hard for the horses that we had to 
stop and rest them very often. The swamp was only five 
miles in length, but we were nearly all the afternoon getting 
through. 

Two days later one of the wagon wheels showed signs of 
collapse. It had already turned inside out, yet we were in, 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 173 

hopes to reach Chicago turnpike before it gave out. But 
about five o'clock in the afternoon it smashed dov^rn flat, 
and there we were in the road with the only building in 
sight, an old school-house. So here we concluded to stay- 
over night while Father went on with the broken wheel and 
buggy to find a wagonmaker. We found an old stone fire- 
place in the schoolhouse and in this we cooked our supper, 
and spread it out on the high benches for tables, using the 
low ones for seats. 

Soon the travelers rode for dreary miles through the 
sand hills, and longed for a sight of the lake whose waters 
they could hear. They did not pass through Chicago, but 
went to the west of the young city. 

Several times during the journey they fell in with other 
movers, who wished to keep them company. But they out- 
traveled the first company, and the second company out- 
traveled them, for just after joining them they traded their 
horses for oxen, which would be of more use to them in the 
new home. 

After miring in mud holes, slipping through the loose 
planks of a bridge, losing themselves in the forest at night, 
enduring the jolting caused by the desire of the buggy 
horses to jump across creeks rather than walk through the 
water, they reached Rush Lake, their journey's end. Next 
day they were comfortably fixed in a log house, sixteen by 
fourteen feet, "ready to begin life in the woods." 

Those who write pioneer records of Wisconsin like to 
tell of Count Agoston Haraszthy, who left Hungary for 
America in 1840. It was his intention to go to Florida, 
but on shipboard he became acquainted with a German im- 
migrant, bound for the Northwest. He agreed to accom- 
pany the German to Wisconsin.^^ 

From New York they went to Albany, then by Erie 
Canal to Buffalo, and by steamer to Milwaukee. In Mil- 
waukee the Hungarian bought three horses and secured an 
interpreter. With a plat of the land in hand, the men found 
their way to a point near Rock river, and built a log house 



174 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

and a shed. Here they set up housekeeping as soon as their 
goods arrived from Milwaukee. An ox-team and some ma- 
chinery were bought. The principal thing done that sum- 
mer was to cut on the marshes a winter's supply of hay for 
the cattle. Their experiment at homemaking had a sad con- 
clusion : 

The region in which they settled has long been famous 
for soil fertility and also as a breeding-place for a great 
variety of mosquitoes. It seems that they were very trouble- 
some of nights, and in that early day there was no available 
means for protection from their ravages. The pioneers 
suffered, and on a particular night a fire was kindled to 
smudge the pest back to its native heath in the adjacent 
marsh. But the mosquitoes were persistent, and in despera- 
tion Haraszthy took a wisp of dry hay, and lighting it, 
swung the torch about. A spark lit in the hay shed. In a 
moment the visible product of the days of toil on the wild- 
hay marsh was in flames. Several loaded pistols and 
double-barrelled gims had been deposited on the hay, and 
a keg of powder had been placed there to avoid the sparks 
that were inevitable in a cabin of primitive construction 
and household operations. The adventurers ran for their 
lives; the flames made a clean sweep of the permanent im- 
provements; the guns, pistols and powder keg performed 
their functions in due time. But the horses and oxen were 
unscathed, and with these the pioneer set off to the west- 
ward ... It is said that about the time of the fire 
catastrophe they learned that they were trespassers on the 
land they had occupied for a few months. The land-office 
had erred in the plat, for the tract had been entered by 
others the previous year. 

At length they found their way to the bluffs of the Wis- 
consin river, where Haraszthy, after a long, hungry look, 
shouted: "Eureka! Eureka! Italia! Italia!" 

Land was bought along the river and a log house was 
built. Later, in partnership with an Englishman Haraszthy 
bought the land on which the present Sauk City is built, 
^he place was at first called Haraszthy. 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 175 

On June 2^, 1841, a frontier itinerant preacher wrote in 
his journal : 

There is here a Hungarian Count — so he calls himself — • 
who claims to have large quantities of money, and is ex- 
pending it liberally in improvements. There is also an 
Englishman who claims to have been a Lord in the old 
country. He is in partnership with the Count. They both 
look like savages, wearing a long beard above as well as 
below the mouth. And they are the great men of the place, 
and others adopt their customs, and make themselves as 
ridiculous as possible. 

Until 1848 the Hungarian Count prospered in Sauk City, 
but the day came when the restlessness so characteristic of 
the early emigrant led him to pick up stakes and go to the 
Pacific coast. He would have appreciated the answer give'n 
by another Wisconsin man to the question, "Where is the 
West?" "The West is where you are; the East is where 
your folks lived." 

By his removal to California at a time when his business 
ventures in Wisconsin were prospering greatly, Haraszthy 
showed that he was one of the restless thousands of whom 
the Superintendent of the United States Census said, in his 
report for December i, 1852: 

The people are somewhat nomadic in character . . . and 
so strong is their passion for motion that the West itself 
supplies a population to the still farther West. Ohio sends 
215,000 to the three states beyond her; Indiana attracts 
120,000 from Ohio, but sends on 50,000 of her own; Illinois 
takes 95,000 from Ohio and Indiana, and gives 7000 to 
young Iowa; and that state, though not twenty years re- 
deemed from the Indians, gains nearly 60,000 by the rest- 
lessness of the three, and, in its turn, breaks over the too 
feeble barriers of the Rocky Mountains to supply Utah 
and Oregon with 1200 natives of Iowa, 

During the early years of the century emigrants bound 
for regions beyond the Mississippi were accustomed to make 



176 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

use of river steamers, but during the thirties many crossed 
northern Illinois and went from there into Iowa. 

One who knew well the roads of Indiana and Illinois 
during the years 1836 and 1837, has told what he saw : ^^ 

The roads would be literally lined with the long blue 
wagons of the emigrant slowly winding their way over the 
broad prairies — the cattle and hogs, men and dogs, and 
frequently women and children forming the rear of the van 
— often ten, twenty and thirty wagons in company. Ask 
them, when and where you would, their destination was the 
Black Hawk Purchase. 

I well remember one evening in 1836 crossing the Mili- 
tary Tract in Illinois. ... I encountered a settler camped 
for the night, as I turned the short angle of a neighboring 
thicket. The old lady had just built her camp fire, and was 
busily engaged in frying prairie chickens which the unerring 
rifle of her boy had brought to the ground ; one of the girls 
was milking a brindle cow, and that tall girl yonder, with 
swarthy arms and yellow sunbonnet, was nailing the coffee- 
mill on the side of a scrub oak which the little boy had 
"blazed" out with his hatchet. There sat the old man on a 
log, quietly shaving himself by a six-penny looking-glass, 
which he had tacked to a neighboring tree. And yonder old 
decrepit man, sitting on the low rush-bottomed chair, was 
the aged grand-sire of all; better that his bones be left by 
the wayside than that he be left alone among strangers. He 
sat quietly smoking his pipe with all the serenity of a 
patriarch. This is Emigrating. 'Tis not going away from 
home; the home was there, that night, with the settlers on 
Camp Creek, under the broad canopy of heaven, by that 
gurgling brook where the cattle browsed, the dogs barked, 
and the children quietly slumbered. 

The settlement of Iowa did not begin until 1833, the first 
purchase of land from the Indians having been made in 
1832. Further purchases were made in 1836, 1837 and 
1842. These fertile lands attracted so many emigrants 
that in May, 1839, the settlers were encouraged to found 



FROM NEW YORE AND NEW ENGLAND 177 

Iowa City, the capital of the territory so recently held by 
the Indians. 

The news of the founding of the capital sped to the east, 
and in those days before the Cahfornia rush, Iowa became 
the westward point of the homeseeker and the fortune 
hunter.^^ Some came to speculate, others to stay. In the 
first bright summer, some slept under the trees of the forest 
with slumbers broken by the wolf's long howl, others dwelt 
in tents, and as cabins were erected the floors were covered 
at night with the tired pioneers who sought refuge from the 
chilly air. Old "Leanback Hall" was built of logs cut from 
the city plot, and, tradition says, was furnished with a single 
bed, large enough to accommodate thirty-six men. Many 
of the first settlers were from Ohio, and by instinct took to 
the woods, leaving the broad open prairies for later comers. 

The first emigrants had to "pass through thickets and 
tangles of slough-grass, winding over prairies brilliant with 
rich-hued blossoms and fording bridgeless streams." Old 
Indian trails or the haphazard ox-wagon track were the 
best that could be found. But better roads were coming, 
for "Iowa's first delegate to Congress, driving by post stage 
from his corn field near Burlington to the national capital, 
secured an appropriation for the opening of a military road 
from Dubuque to Iowa City, which became the highway of 
travel to the interior." 

The first settlers of Iowa naturally desired to attract to 
their neighborhood as many settlers as possible of the most 
promising kind. Among the efforts to do this was the pub- 
lication in 1846 of a little book ^^ calculated to make more 
acute the longing of the settlers to go to Iowa, or to awaken 
the desire for the venture in the breasts of those who had 
not begun to feel the call of the prairies. In this volume a 
section was devoted to a discussion of "Persons Best Quali- 
fied to Emigrate." 

It is undoubtedly true that some descriptions of emigrants 
will succeed better in a new country than others. Those 



ITS ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

who have been accustomed to a countn- life and to the labor 
of a fami are, of course, better htted to cultivate land and 
endure hardships, at first attendant upon a residence in a 
frontier country, than artisans, traders and people whose 
habits of life have l>ecome somewhat delicate by a long 
residence in cities and work-shops. But everj- individual 
who to health and vigor of manhood joins perseverance 
and industr}' will ultimately prosper. Mechanics of all 
kinds cannot fail to do well in Iowa, for when not em- 
ployed in cultivating their farms (,if they choose to make 
one) they will find it quite easy and convenient to earn a 
little money by working at their various trades; they will 
likewise have the advantage of being able to improve their 
dwellings and repair their farming utensils, without ex- 
pense. ^Married persons are generally more comfortable 
and succeed better in a frontier country than single men, 
for a wife and family, so far from being a burden to a 
western farmer, may always form a source of pecuniar)* 
advantage in the domestic economy of his household, in- 
dependently of heightening the enjo}Tnents of domestic 
happiness. . . . 

!Many is the zcifc, whose cheerful countenance now glad- 
dens the fireside of the "Iowa farmer," that oner l->eamed 
brightly in tlie gay saloons of the crowded city. ... In fine, 
it must be the settler's own fault if he does not enjoy, in 
large abundance, ever}- substantial comfort and enjoyment 
of life, and see around his frugal board all the choice bless- 
ings of a land flowing with milk and honey. 

But many of the emigrants who in later years came as 
far as the border of Iowa turned north instead of going 
west. Across Illinois and Missouri they came to Rock 
Island, Dunleith (or Galena), and Prairie du Chien. and 
from one of these points took steamer up the Mississippi 
to make tlieir homes in nortliern Wisconsin or Minnesota. 
In 1858, six years after 2I,cxk),ooo acres acquired from the 
Dakotas were thrown open for settlement. ?^Iinnesota was 
admitted to the Union; Wisconsin reached the dignity of 
statehood ten years earlier. 



FROM NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND 179 

NOTES TO CHAPTER IV 
(See Bibliography) 

1. "Ohio as a Hospitable Wilderness," p. 527. 

2. "History of the Holland Purchase," p. 323. 

3. Ibid., p. 470. 

4. "Between Albany and Buffalo," p. 309. 

5. "A Retrospect of Western Travel," Vol. I, p. 29. 

6. "Between Albany and Buffalo," p. 407. 

7. "Travels on an Inland Voyage." Vol. I, pp. 2, 15. 

8. "The Northwest Territory and the Western Reserve," p. 15. 

9. "Ohio and Her Western Reserve." p. J 19. 

10. "A Letter Addressed to the People of Maryland," 

11. "Ohio as a Hospitable Wilderness," p. 527. 

12. "Real Stories from Our History," p. 2^7. 

13. "Commerce of the Lakes." p. 6. 

14. "Considerations of the Great Western Canal," p. 19. 

15. "The Erie Canal and the Settlement of the West," p. 198. 

16. "Journal of a Tour from Albany to Lake Erie," p. 279. 

17. "Travels in North America in the Years 1S27 and 1828," Vol. I, 

p. 66. 

iS. "Journal of a Tour to Niagara in 1827," pp. 226, 2^7, 264. 

19. "A Trip to Niagara in 1835." p. ZZ-' 

20. "A Retrospect of Western Travel." 

21. "Report of the Select Committee of the New York Legislature," 

1849^ 

22. "Experiences of Prairie Life in the Early Settlements and Cities 

of the West," p. 8. 

23. "History of Ashland County. Ohio," p. 27. 

24. "Personal Recollections of Early Days," p. 345. 

25. "The Settlement of Clinton County," p. 360. 

26. "Augustus Conant." p. 116. 

27. "Some Pioneer Experiences in Jefferson County," p. 134. 

28. "Pioneers and Durham Boats on Fox River." p. 187. 

29. "A Wagon Journey from Ohio to Missouri in 1846," p. 188. 

30. "Agoston Haraszthy," p. 224. 

31. "A Glimpse of Iowa in 1S46," p. 12. 

32. "The Historic Capital of Iowa," p. 444. 

33. "A Glimpse of Iowa in 1S46," p. 62. 



I. THE LURE OF GAIN 

Two days had the train been waiting, 
Laid off from the forward tramp, 

When the sick child drooped 

And died, and they scooped 
Out a Httle grave near camp. 

Outside of civilization, 

Far from the abodes of men. 

Where the cactus blows 

And the wild sage grows, 
In the haunts of the wild sage hen. 

No trace in range of the vision, 
No beautiful flowers bloom. 
But a waste of sand, 
In a desert land, 
' Surrounds the little tomb. 

— John Krayshaw Kaye. 

In 1800 Santa Fe, Mexico, had a population of about 
four thousand. A town of that size presents attractions to 
ambitious traders, especially if — as was true in this case — 
the merchants who have had a monopoly of the business of 
the community are taking advantage of the people by asking 
exorbitant rates for inferior goods. 

Evidently the Mexican traders who took goods from the 
south to Santa Fe did not give a thought to the possibility 
of competition from the United States. So they were taken 
by surprise when, in 181 2,* McKnight, Beard, Chambers 
and others, in all about a dozen, appeared in Santa Fe, after 
a tedious trip along the route which Spanish explorers had 
taken in the sixteenth century, which American trappers 
had also chosen in the early years of the eighteenth century. 

* This date is given in "Commerce of the Prairies," though "The 
Old Santa Fe Trail" says the trip was made in 1815. 

183 



184 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

At once they were arrested on suspicion, the merchandise 
they had brought with them was confiscated, and they were 
thrust into prison. There they languished for nine years. 

In 1 82 1 Beard and Chambers made their way back to 
the United States in a canoe, by way of the Canadian Fork 
of the Arkansas river. The story of their adventures led 
an Ohio merchant named Glenn to make an expedition to 
Santa Fe, in 1821. 

Beard and Chambers, after securing financial backing, 
ventured a second trip. This time the difficulties came al- 
most at once. They were delayed, and were overtaken by 
winter. It was necessary to spend three months on an 
island, in the vicinity of the present town of Cimarron. 
During the winter part of the pack animals were lost by 
'starvation and cold. As soon as it was possible to travel, 
they cached their goods and went to Taos, where they 
bought mules. With these they returned to the island, 
opened the cache, loaded the merchandise, and proceeded to 
Santa Fe. 

Another expedition of 1821 was that of Captain Beck- 
well, who led four others by the western prairie route to 
Santa Fe. In 1822 he made a second trip with thirty men 
and $5000 worth of merchandise. The leader decided to 
take a more direct route than had as yet been attempted. 
His only guide was a compass. 

Soon water gave out, and food became scarce. Dogs 
were killed for food. The men were nearly exhausted by 
thirst when a buffalo was killed. The stomach of the 
animal was full of water, and this saved the travelers. One 
of the company afterward declared that the draught from 
the stomach was the sweetest drink he had ever tasted. 
Their strength having been renewed in this unexpected 
manner, a number of the men were able to reach the Arkan- 
sas river, where they filled their canteens. The remainder of 
the journey to Taos and Santa Fe was without incident. 

These early companies had pack animals, but in 1824 a 
party of some eighty travelers employed twenty-five wheeled 



THE SANTA FE TRAIL 185 

vehicles as well as pack mules. The journey was accom- 
plished with comparative ease. "The road, indeed, appears 
to have presented fewer obstacles than any ordinary road 
of equal length in the United States." ^ 

This successful journey by wagon was an argument in 
favor of Thomas H. Benton's proposal, made to Congress 
in 1824, that a road be built from the Missouri to Santa Fe. 
The road was surveyed in 1825 and 1826, and was found 
to be 775 miles in length. Thus was completed the route 
from the Mississippi to Santa Fe, the first stage of which 
was Boone's Lick, from St. Charles to Franklin, the road 
over which marched many of the early emigrants west of 
the Mississippi. Before long, wagons manufactured in 
Pittsburg became the favorite means of transport on the 
trail. These were "usually drawn by eight mules or the 
same number of oxen." Before many years even heavier 
wagons were introduced, these being drawn by ten or twelve 
mules. 

In 1829 oxen were first employed on the road, and to the 
surprise of the traders they were found to do work equal 
to the mules. Within a year or two perhaps one-half of the 
wagons were drawn by oxen. 

At first the Indians paid little attention to the caravans, 
but aggressions by the traders, the opening of the trail by 
the government, and aroused cupidity were responsible for 
the beginning of serious aggression. Caravans were at- 
tacked, goods were seized and men were killed. 

In 1828 a caravan of one hundred and fifty mules and 
horses and five wagons, carrying a large amount of silver 
coin, was stopped at Upper Cimarron Springs by Co- 
manches. There was no escape, except by boldly riding 
through the camp. "Assuming the bravest look possible, 
and keeping our rifles in position for immediate action, we 
started on the perilous venture.^ The chief met us with a 
smile of welcome, and said, in Spanish, 'You must stay 
with us to-night. Our young men will guard your stock, 
and we have plenty of buffalo meat.' " 



186 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

The traders tried to escape, but the Indians seized their 
bridle reins and began to fire on them, yet most of the com- 
pany succeeded in getting away. "We succeeded in fighting 
them off until we had left the camp half a mile behind," 
the writer of the account continued, "and as darkness had 
settled down on us, we decided to go into camp ourselves. 
We tied our gray bell-mare to a stake, and went out and 
jingled the bell, whenever any of us could do so, thus keep- 
ing the animals from stampeding. We corralled our 
wagons for better protection, and the Indians kept us busy 
all night, resisting their furious charges." 

Next day five miles were made, though the fight with the 
Indians was continuous. Four days passed in the same 
way, until the traders were almost exhausted for lack of 
sleep. Then came a night attack, when the horses and 
mules were stampeded, and every animal was lost. 

It was decided to abandon the wagons and silver, and 
to seek safety in flight. Taking as much of the silver as 
they could carry, the survivors stole from the camp. For 
two days and nights they traveled on. When they were 
weak from loss of food they buried the silver on a small 
island in the Arkansas river. Fortunately they shot a 
buffalo and an antelope and ate a hearty meal, though with- 
out salt. 

A few days later they found the Trail, from which they 
had wandered. They were nearly exhausted from exposure 
and loss of sleep, so they decided to send five of the party 
for help to Independence. 

The two hundred mile journey of the relief party was 
most difBcult. The weather was cold, and the men had 
little clothing and no blankets. Their feet were partially 
bare, and bloodmarks stained the Trail. Deafness and thirst 
added to their misery. Several were ready to give up, when 
muddy water was found. At last they reached a cabin fifty 
miles from Independence w^here some women were cooking 
pumpkin. This was eaten ravenously. 

"Wc had subsisted for eleven days on one turkey, a coon, 



THE SANTA FE TRAIL 187 

a crow, and some elm bark, with an occasional bunch of 
wild grapes, and the picture we presented to these good peo- 
ple they will probably never forget," the story of the escape 
continued. "We had not tasted bread or salt for thirty- 
two days." 

Next day Independence was reached, and seven men sent 
back on the trail for the relief of the remainder of the party. 
The men were found just in time to save them from starva- 
tion. Their exhaustion is apparent from the statement that 
not more than two of them were found together. Two 
were found one hundred miles from Independence; the 
others were scattered along the Trail for fifty miles. 

With an escort of soldiers, the leaders of the caravan re- 
turned to the island where the silver had been buried. The 
coin was found exposed, for the water had washed the 
earth away. But no one had seen the treasure, for no one 
had passed that way. 

In 1829, in response to an appeal for protection, three 
troops of United States infantry were provided as an escort 
for a caravan from Franklin, Missouri, to the Mexican 
border, on the Arkansas. All was quiet until the company 
was within a few miles of the boundary. Then there was 
a sharp skirmish with the Comanches. 

In 1842 the Trail was the scene of further military ex- 
ploits. In that year a company of Texans went toward 
Santa Fe to rob caravans going from the United States 
to Mexico. Their activity called out the soldiers once 
more. 

From that day until 1846, when the Army of the West 
went over the Santa Fe Trail for the conquest of New 
Mexico, there was an interruption in the activity of the 
traders. In 1843 President Santa Anna ordered that the 
frontier custom house should be closed to commerce. But 
this restriction was removed when the territory passed to 
the control of the United States. 

During the twenty-two years before Santa Anna's em- 
bargo the trade on the Trail became quite large. In 1822 



188 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

$15,000 worth of goods was carried by seventy men; in 
1824 the amount of the traffic was $35,000, while one hun- 
dred men and twenty-six wagons were engaged; in 1825 
the vakie of the goods carried increased to $65,000, while 
one hundred and thirty men and thirty-seven wagons were 
employed; in 1828 the amount became $150,000, carried by 
two hundred men and one hundred wagons; in 1831 $250,- 
000 was the value of the traffic, and three hundred and 
twenty men and one hundred and thirty wagons were em- 
ployed; in 1843, the year of the embargo, $450,000 worth 
of goods were taken to Santa Fe, in two hundred and thirty 
wagons, by three hundred and fifty men. 

Josiah Gregg, who wrote ^ in 1844, indicated his belief 
that the traffic was done for all time. But with the close of 
the war with Mexico it began to increase rapidly. Soon 
thousands of wagons made the trip annually. Each wagon 
could carry from five to six thousand pounds. As freight 
to Santa Fe was ten dollars per hundred pounds, the profits 
were large. The trip required from eighty to ninety days. 

The journey by stage required two weeks. The fare was 
$250. When the Santa Fe trade was at its height tlie man 
who manufactured all the ox -yokes made fifty thousand 
dollars a year. 

Until 1832 the start was made from Franklin, Missouri; 
then Independence became the Missouri terminus of the 
Trail. After the war with Mexico, Westport (Kansas 
City) became popular as a starting point with many of the 
traders. 

Traders were not the only men who made use of the 
Santa Fe Trail. Emigrants by hundreds and thousands 
used the route, or a portion of it. Many of those who 
sought Southern California went by way of Santa Fe; the 
road to California lay for some distance along the Santa 
Fe Trail, and many started for Oregon the same way. 



11. FACING FAMINE AND FIGHTING INDIANS 

Those western pioneers an impulse felt, 
Which their less hardy sons scarce comprehend; 
Alone in Nature's wildest scenes they dwelt, 
Where crag and precipice and torrent blend; 
And stretched around the wilderness as rude 
As the red rovers of the solitude 
Who watched their coming with a hate profound 
And fought with deadly strife for every inch of ground. 

— Frederick W. Thomas. 

On May 21, Thomas J. Famham and sixteen others ar- 
rived in Independence, on their way to the Oregon Terri- 
tory. Some were health seekers, some sightseers, and a 
few were home-seekers. Farnham gave in the story of his 
travels an interesting picture that should not be buried in a 
Tolume long out of print : * 

Pack mules and horses and pack-saddles were purchased 
and prepared for service. Bacon and flour, salt and pepper, 
sufficient for 400 miles, were secured in sacks ; our powder- 
casks were wrapped in painted canvas; and large oilcloths 
were purchased to protect them and our sacks of clothing 
from the rains; our arms were thoroughly repaired; bullets 
were moulded; powder-horns and cap-boxes filled, and all 
else done that was deemed needful . . . 

But before leaving this little woodland town, it will be 
interesting to remember that it is the usual place of 
rendezvous and outfit for the overland traders to Santa Fe 
and other Mexican States. In the month of May of each 
year, the traders congregate here, and buy large Pennsyl- 
vania wagons and teams of mules to convey their calicoes, 
cotton, cloth, boots, shoes, &c, &c, over the plains to that 
distant and hazardous market. And it is quite amusing to 
a "green-horn," as those are called who have never been 

189 



190 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

engaged in the trade, to see the mules make their first at- 
tempt at practical pulling. They are harnessed in a team, two 
upon the shaft, and the remainder two abreast in long 
swinging iron traces. And then, by way of initiary intima- 
tion that they have passed from a life of monotonous con- 
templation, in the seclusion of their nursery pastures, to 
the bustling duties of the Santa Fe Trade, a hot iron is 
applied to the thigh or shoulder of each with an embrace 
so cordially warm as to leave there, in blistered perfection, 
the initials of the last owner's name. This done, a Mexican 
Spaniard, as chief muleteer, mounts the right hand wheel 
mule, and another the left hand one of the span next the 
leaders, while four or five others, as foot-guards, stand on 
either side, armed with whips and thongs. The team is 
straightened — and now comes the trial of passive obedience. 
The chief muleteer gives the shout of march, and drives his 
long spurs into the sides of the animal that bears him; his 
companion before follows his example, but there is no move- 
ment. An unearthly bray is the only response of these 
martyrs to human supremacy. Again the team is straight- 
ened ; again the bloody rowel is applied ; the body-guard on 
foot raise the shout ; and all as one apply the lash. The un- 
tutored animals kick and leap, rear and plunge, and fall in 
their harness. In fine, they act the mule, and generally 
succeed in breaking neck or limb of some one of their 
number, and in raising a tumult that would do credit to 
any order of animals accustomed to long ears. 

After a few trainings of this description, however, they 
move off in fine style. And, although some luckless one 
may at intervals brace himself up to an uncompromising 
resistance of such encroachment upon his freedom, still, the 
majority preferring passive obedience to active pelting drag 
him onward, till like themselves he submits to the discipline 
of the traces. 

On the 30th of May we found ourselves prepared to 
move for Indian Territory. Our pack-saddles being there- 
fore girded upon the animals, our sack of provisions, &c, 
snugly lashed upon them, and protected from the rain that 
had begun to fall, and ourselves well mounted and armed, 
we took the road that leads southwest from Independence 



THE SANTA FE TRAIL 191 

In the direction of Santa Fe. But the rains that had accom- 
panied us daily since we left Peoria, seemed determined to 
escort us still, our ill-natured scowls to the contrary not- 
withstanding. We had traveled only three miles when such 
torrents fell that we found it necessary to take shelter in a 
neighboring school-house for the night. 

The following morning was clear and pleasant . . . We 
crossed the . . . Big-Blue . . . and approached the border 
of the Indian domain. All were anxious now to see and 
linger over every object that reminded us we were still on 
the confines of . . . civilization . . . The last cabin at 
length was approached . . . Before us were the treeless 
plains of green, as they had been since the flood — beauti- 
ful, unbroken by bush or rock, imsoiled by plough or 
spade. . . . 

Having traveled about twenty-five miles over the beauti- 
ful prairie, we halted on the banks of a small stream . . . 
At this encampment final arrangements were made for our 
journey over the Prairies. To this end provisions, men, 
ammunition, packs and pack-saddles were overhauled, and 
an account taken of our common stock of goods for trading 
with the Indians. . . . We determined to remain here a 
while and send back to the Kauzaus Indian mill for 200 
pounds of flour . . . Officers were also chosen and their 
powers defined, and whatever leisure was found from these 
duties, during a tarry of two days, we spent in regaling 
ourselves with strawberries and gooseberries. . . . 

Our friends having returned from the mill . . . we left 
Elm Grove on the 3d of June, traveled along the Santa Fe 
trail about 15 miles, and encamped . . . We remained here 
a day and a half, waiting for two of our number who had 
gone in search of a horse that had left our encampment at 
Elm Grove. . . . 

Our road on the 5th was through a nearly level prairie 
... A skirt of black oak timber occasionally lined the 
horizon or strayed up a deep ravine near the trail. The ex- 
treme care of the traders in the overland Santa Fe trade 
was everywhere noticeable, in the fact that the track of their 
richly-loaded wagons never approached within musket-shot 
of these forests of timber. Fifteen miles' march brought 



192 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

us to our place of encampment. A certain portion of the 
company, allotted to that labor, unpacked the company's 
mules of the common-stock property, provisions, ammu- 
nition, &c. ; another portion pitched the tent ; another gath- 
ered wood and kindled a fire; while others brought water, 
and still others put seething-pots and frying-pans to their 
appropriate duties. So that ... a few minutes trans- 
formed our little cavalcade from a moving troop into an 
eating, drinking and joyous camp. A thunder storm visited 
us during the night . . . The rain came in floods; and our 
tent, not being ditched around, was flooded soon after the 
commencement of the storm, and ourselves and baggage 
thoroughly drenched. 

The next day we made about 15 miles through the mud 
and rain, and stopped for the night near a solitary tree 
upon the bank of a small tributary of the Kanzas river. 
Here fortune favored our fast-decreasing larder. One of 
the company killed a turtle, which furnished us an excellent 
supper. . . . 

On the 7th . . . our company was divided into two 
messes, nine in one, and eight in the other. On the ground, 
with each a tin pint cup and a small round plate of the same 
material; the first filled with coffee, tea, or water, the last 
with fried side bacon, and dough fried in fat; each with a 
butcher-knife in hand and each mess sitting, tailor-like, 
around its own frying-pan, eating with the appetite of 
tigers. . . . 

There were encamped near us some wagoners on their 
return to Missouri, who had gone out to Council Grove 
with the provisions and that part of the goods of the Santa 
Fetraders which the team of untrained mules had been un- 
able to draw when they left Independence. . . . 

Three of my valuable men had determined to accompany 
the wagoners to the States. And as they filed off ... an 
expression of deep discouragement shaded every face . . . 
But . . . the determination to penetrate the valleys of 
Oregon soon swept away every feeling of depression ; and, 
two hunters being sent for^vard to replenish our larder, we 
trailed happily onward. 

... At night-fall we found ourselves on a height over- 




Bj/ i)ermissio7i of the .l>ii(rir((n Sucicti/ of Church Literature 

THE BATTLE OF THE ALAMO 



MAHKEU ON Till 

SANTA FE TRAIL \. / 



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THE ' 

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From Gregg's "Commerce of the Prairies' 



\VA(i()XS I'AKKKI) FDR THE NIGHT 




1^1 (Jin S( Ji()(il( I itf / s II tslin i( til ( iiii(litit)ns and Prosperif 
of fill IikIkiii.s III the United States" 



NEAR FOHT DKI'IANCE, NEW MEXICO 



THE SANTA FE TRAIL 193 

looking a beautiful grove . . . This we supposed to be 
Council Grove. On the swell of a hill are the remains of 
an old Kauzaus encampment . . . We fired signal gims for 
the hunters, pitched our tents, took up for fuel the boughs 
which had been used by the Indians in building their wig- 
wams, and proceeded to cook our supper. This encamp- 
ment was made by the Kauzaus six years ago, when on their 
way South to their annual buffalo-hunt . . . About 9 
o'clock our signal guns were answered by the return of our 
hunters. They had scoured the country all day in quest of 
game, but found none. Our hopes were somewhat de- 
pressed by the result. We had but 100 pounds of flour and 
one side of bacon left; and the buffalo, by the best estimate 
we could make, were still 300 miles distant. The country 
between us and these animals, too, being constantly scoured 
by Indian hunters, afforded us but little prospect of obtain- 
ing other game. . . . Having put ourselves on short al- 
lowance and looked at our horses as the means of prevent- 
ing starvation, we sought rest for the fatigue of the next 
day's march. 

Council Grove derives its name from the practice among 
the traders, from the commencement of the overland com- 
merce with the Mexican dominion, of assembling here for 
the appointment of officers and the establishment of rules 
and regulations to govern their march through the danger- 
ous country South of it. They first elect heir commander- 
in-chief. His duty is to appoint subordinate heads and to 
divide the owners and men into watches, and to assign them 
their several hours of duty in guarding the camp during the 
remainder of their perilous journey. He also divides the 
caravan into two parts, each of which forms a column when 
on march. In these lines he assigns each team its place in 
which it must always be found. Having arranged these 
several matters, the Council breaks up ; and the Commander, 
with the guard on duty, moves off in advance to select the 
track and anticipate approaching danger. After this guard 
the head teams of each column lead off about eight feet 
apart and the others follow in regular lines; rising and 
dipping gloriously; 200 men, 100 wagons, 800 mules; 
shoutings and whippings and whistlings and cheerings, are 



194 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

all there; and, amidst them all, the hardy Yankees move 
happily onward, to the siege of the mines of Montezuma. 
Several objects are gained by this arrangement of the 
wagons. If they are attacked on march by the Cumanche 
cavalry or other foes, the leading teams file to the right 
and left and close the front, and the hindermost by a similar 
movement close the rear; and thus they form an oblong 
rampart of wagons laden with cotton goods that effectually 
shields teams and men from the small arms of the Indians. 
The same arrangement is made when they halt for the 
night. 

Within the area thus formed are put, after they are fed, 
many of the more valuable horses and oxen. The remainder 
of the animals are ''staked" — that is, tied to stakes, at a 
distance of 20 or 30 yards, around the line. The ropes by 
which they are fastened are from 30 to 40 feet in length, 
and the stakes to which they are attached are carefully 
driven at such distances apart as shall prevent their being 
entangled one w^ith another. 

Among these animals the guard on duty is stationed, 
standing motionless or crouching so as to discover every 
moving spot upon the horizon of night. The reasons as- 
signed for this . . . are that a guard in motion would be 
discovered and fired upon by the cautious savage . . . and, 
further, that it is impossible to discern the approach of an 
Indian, creeping among the grass in the dark, unless the eye 
of the observer is so close to the ground as to bring the 
whole surface lying within the range of vision between it 
and the line of light around the lower edge of the horizon. 
If the camp be attacked, the guard fires and retires to the 
wagon. The whole body then take position for defence ; at 
one time sallying out, they recover their animals from the 
grasp of the Indians; and at another, concealed behind the 
wagons, they load and fire upon the intruders . . . And 
many were the bloody battles fought on the trail ; and such 
were some of the anxieties and dangers that attended and 
still attend the "Santa Fe Trail." And many are the graves 
along the track, of those who have fallen before the terrible 
cavalry of the Cumanches. 

. . . Ten miles on the day's march, the animals were 



THE SANTA FE TRAIL 195 

tugging lustily through the mud, when the advance guard 
shouted. "Elk! Elk!" and "steak broiled" and "ribs broiled" 
and "marrow bones" and "no more hunger" and "Oregon 
forever, storm or hve" as an appointed number of my com- 
panions filed off to the chase. 

About six o'clock we overtook a company of Santa Fe 
traders commanded by Captain Kelley. The gloom of the 
atmosphere was such when we approached his camp that 
Captain K. supposed us Indians, and took measures accord- 
ingly to defend himself. Having stationed his twenty-nine 
men within the barricade formed by his wagons, he himself, 
accompanied by a single man, came to reconnoitre. And 
he was not less agreeably surprised to find us whites and 
friends than we were at the prospect of society and food. 

. . . We encamped at sunset on the banks of a branch of 
the Arkansas. Our ration was now reduced to one-eighth 
of a pint of flour to each man ... A herd of oxen and 
mules were feeding and lowing upon the opposite bank of 
the stream. They belonged to the Messrs. Bents, who have 
a trading post upon the Arkansas. One of the partners and 
thirty odd men were on their way to St. Louis with ten 
wagons laden with peltries. They were also driving down 
200 Santa Fe sheep for the Missouri market. These animals 
are usually purchased from the Spaniards; and if the In- 
dians prove far enough from the track to permit the pur- 
chaser to drive them into the States, his investment is un- 
usually profitable . . . On meeting the gentlemen in charge 
of the wagon before spoken of, he informed us that he had 
lost thirty Mexican mules and seven horses; and desired us, 
as we intended to pass his post, to recover and take them 
back. . . . 

. . . The country in which we now were was by no means 
sacred to life, limb or property. The Pawnee and Cumanche 
war parties roam through it during the spring and summer 
months for plunder and scalps. The guard . . . was there- 
fore carefully stationed at nightfall among the animals 
around the tents, and urged to the utmost careful watch- 
fulness. But no foes molested us. In the expressive lan- 
guage of the giant of our band, prefaced always with an 



196 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

appropriate sigh and arms akimbo, "We were not mur- 
dered yet." 

The 14th, 15th and i6th (June) were days of more 
than ordinary hardships. With barely food enough to sup- 
port Hfe — drenched daily by thunder storms and by swim- 
ming and fording the numerous drains of this alluvial 
region, and worried by the continual packing and unpack- 
ing of our animals, and enfeebled by the dampness of my 
couch at night, I was so much reduced when I dismounted 
from my horse on the evening of the i6th, that I was un- 
able to loose the girth of my saddle or spread my blanket 
for repose. 

Fortunately the buffalo were seen several days later, and 
a fat bull was killed. Ten days later the buffalo were so 
thick that it appeared oftentimes extremely dangerous even 
for the immense cavalcade of the Santa Fe traders to 
attempt to break its way through them. We traveled at the 
rate of fifteen miles a day. The length of sight on either 
side of the trail, 15 miles; on both sides, 30 miles: — 15x3 — 
45x30 — 1,350 square miles of country so thickly covered 
with these noble animals than when viewed from a height 
it scarcely afforded a sight of a square league of its surface. 

On July 1 1 the party divided. Part went on to Santa Fe. 
Part turned north toward the mountains and Oregon. This 
was in the vicinity of Fort WiUiam. 



III. WHEN THE TRAIL WAS IN ITS GLORY 

On and on the compact ranks, 
With accessions ever waiting, with the places of the dead quickly 

fill'd, 
Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stop- 
ping, 

Pioneers ! O pioneers ! 

—Walt Whitman. 



Edwin Bryant, who left Independence May 5, ^846, 
bound for Oregon, did not continue on the Santa Fe Trail 
so long as Farnham. He left it after eight days, while 
Farnham followed it for seven weeks. The diary of 
Bryant's eight days ^ is full of interest. He left Independ- 
ence May 5, with one wagon and the oxen. Within three 
hours the wagon stalled twice, once in the mud, — from this 
predicament relieved by a passing negro with a well-trained 
yoke of oxen; the second time the wagon ran off one side 
of a bridge — relieved here by a Santa Fe teamster and 
his ox. 

May 6. Three Santa Fe wagons which passed our camp 
last night during the storm, were stalled in the road just 
beyond us. . . . At two o'clock we reached an encampment 
composed of the wagons of Colonel Russell and the family 
of Mr. West, of Calloway County, Missouri, and some 
others. They were emigrating to California. The wagons 
numbered in all about fifteen. When our wagon arrived it 
was drawn up alongside the others, and our oxen released 
to feed upon the grass of the prairies. I visited the tents 
of our fellow-travellers, and found the ladies busily em- 
ployed, as if sitting by the fireside which they had recently 
left for a long and toilsome, if not a dangerous, journey 
and a country of which they knew but little. Mrs. West, a 

197 



198 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

lady of seventy, and her daughter, Mrs. Campbell, were 
knitting. Mr. West, the head of the family, was originally 
from Virginia, and was, he told me, seventy-five years of 
age. His four sons and son-in-law. Major Campbell, hav- 
ing determined to emigrate to California, he and his wife 
had resolved to accompany them. Mr. and Mrs. West, al- 
though so much advanced in life, appeared to be as resolute 
as the youngest of the family, and to count with certainty 
upon seeing the Eldorado of the Pacific. The former 
realized this expectation — the latter did not. 

Fear was felt as to the Mormons, who were traveling 
West in large numbers. It was rumored among the emi- 
grants, for instance, that "five thousand Mormons were 
crossing or had crossed, the Kansas river; that they marched 
with ten brass field-pieces, and that every man of the party 
was armed with a rifle, a bowie knife, and a brace of large 
revolving pistols. It was declared that they were in- 
veterately hostile to the emigrant parties; and when the 
latter came up to the Mormons, they intended to attack and 
murder them, and appropriate to themselves their prop- 
erty.* 

,Mr. Bryant was too wise to pay much attention to these 
rumors. "With proper circumspection on our part no diffi- 
culties with them need be apprehended," he decided. 

On May 8, early in the afternoon, an encampment of sev- 
eral emigrant wagons was passed, and later in the day ten 
emigrant wagons were overtaken, with a numerous drove 
of cows and other stock. In the evening when camp was 
made, two wagons were on the ground before them. This 
party was from St. Louis, while a company from Michigan 
was encamped in a grove of timber about a mile distant. 

On May 9 a pause was made to fish and to rearrange the 
provisions and equipment. By night other wagons had 
come up, until there were thirty-four in the encampment. 
Therefore 

it was proposed that the party for California should be 
organized and officered . . . Singular as it may appear, 



THE SANTA FE TRAIL 199 

there is as much electioneering here for the captaincy of 
this expedition as there would be for the generalship of an 
army, or for the presidency of the United States. The 
many interests of the ambitious aspirants to office and the 
vehemence with which their claims are urged by their re- 
spective friends argue unfavorably to harmony on the 
journey. 

Our camp this evening presents a most cheerful appear- 
ance. The prairie, miles before us, is enlivened with groups 
of cattle, numbering six or seven hundred, feeding upon 
the fresh green grass. The numerous white tents and 
wagon-covers, before which the camp-fires are blazing 
brightly, represent a rustic village; and men, women and 
children are talking, playing and singing around them with 
all the glee of light and careless hearts. While I am writ- 
ing, a party at the lower end of the camp is engaged in 
singing hymns and sacred songs. 

May 12. All the wagons and teams were this morning 
inspected by a committee appointed for that purpose. It 
appeared from the report that the number of wagons be- 
longing to the company was 63 ; of men 1 19 ; of women 59; 
of children, male and female, no; pounds of breadstuff s, 
58,484; of bacon, 38,080; of powder, 1,065; of lead, 2,557; 
number of guns, mostly rifles, 144 ; pistols, 94. The number 
of cattle was not reported, but I estimate it at 700, including 
the loose stock, and 150 horses. 

May 13. I met, this afternoon, three returning Santa Fe 
trading companies; two of them with three or four wagons, 
and the other with twelve wagons, all drawn by mules. 
They were driving before them several large herds of 
mules, in the aggregate about one thousand. The mules 
were so lean that the ribs of most of them were defined 
with precision, and the bones of some of them appeared to 
have worn through the flesh. I never saw a more ghostly 
collection of animals. . . . 

I stopped and conversed some time with one of the lead- 
ing men of the companies . . . He said that the principal 
part of the mules had been driven from Chihuahua, and 
had cost them twenty dollars per head ; that they were taken 
in exchange for such commodities as had been carried out 



200 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

with them, and he expected to dispose of them at a profit on 
his arrival in the settlements of Missouri. He said that 
the journey to Santa Fe and Chihuahua was one of great 
fatigue and hardship, as he knew, but that the journey to 
California was infinitely more so ; that our lives would be 
shortened ten years by the trip, and before we returned, if 
we experienced such good fortune, our heads would be 
white, not with the frosts of age, but from the effects of 
exposure and extreme hardships. 

That afternoon the party turned from the Santa Fe Trail 
toward California. 

During the years immediately following the discovery of 
gold in California the number of emigrants who made use 
of the Santa Fe Trail was large, in spite of the great diffi- 
culties of the way beyond the New Mexico city. Bayard 
Taylor "^ told of meeting some of these pilgrims who took 
passage from San Diego for San Francisco on the vessel 
which had carried him from New York : 

The stories of these adventurers by the way sounded 
more marvellous than anything I had heard or read since 
my boyish acquaintance with Robinson Crusoe, Captain 
Cook, and John Ledyard. Taking them as the average ex- 
perience of the thirty thousand emigrants who last year 
crossed the Plains, this California Crusade will more than 
equal the great military expeditions of the Middle Ages in 
magnitude, peril and adventure. The amount of suffering 
which must have been endured in the savage mountain 
passes and herbless deserts of the interior cannot be told in 
words. Some had come by way of Santa Fe and along the 
savage hills of the Gila; some, starting from Red River, 
had crossed the Great Stake Desert and taken the road from 
Paso del Norte to Tucson or Sonora. 

For twenty years long the emigrants by the Santa Fe 
Trail had to keep their eyes open for Indians. Relief did 
not come until General Sheridan's campaign against the 
savages of the plains in 1868 and 1869. 



THE SANTA FE TRAIL 201 

The traveler who desires to see a bit of the old trail — 
almost every mile of which was marked by anguish and 
blood — can have his wish satisfied if he will look carefully 
from the cars of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Rail- 
road three miles west of Walnut Creek, where the trail may 
be seen as it passes down the slope toward the creek. 

Since 1880, when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 
Railroad was opened, the Trail has been a memory. But 
it is a glorious memory. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER V 

(See Bibliography) 

"Commerce of the Prairies," Vol. II, p. 25. 

Newspaper Account, as Copied in "The Old Santa Fe Trail," p. 69. 

3. "Commerce of the Prairies," Vol. II, p. i6a. 

4. "Travels in the Great Western Prairies," p. 4. 

5. "What I Saw in California," p. 21. 

6. Ibid., p. 15. 
"El Dorado," Vol. I, p. 47- 



I. THE WAGON WHEELS OF WHITMAN 

"Tramp, tramp, tramp, the trains are marching 
Westward, still westward day by day; 
Standing guard the livelong night, 
Ever ready for the fight, 
Here to plant the flag, three thousand miles away." 

Not until about 1832 did the Oregon Trail begin to rival 
the Santa Fe Trail as a route to the West, though it had 
been traced roughly in 18 10 by Wilson Price Hunt. As 
chief agent of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, 
Hunt went from the Missouri to the Pacific in charge of 
a party of fur traders. After following the route of Lewis 
and Clark up the Missouri as far as the towns of the Man- 
dan Indians, he plunged boldly into the unmapped wilder- 
ness and finally reached the Columbia, going by way of the 
Black Hills, the Bighorn Mountains, and the Snake river. 
To a portion of this route was given later the name, "The 
Oregon Trail." 

Later fur traders and adventurers struck out from the 
lower Missouri river, making their start at Independence. 
Still later, when the tide of emigration to the West by this 
route set in. Independence and Weston were starting points 
from 1842 to 1846. Many later parties started from here, 
though as early as 1846 St. Joseph became popular with 
emigrants who came from Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. 
After 1850 Council Bluffs was a favorite point for be- 
ginning the long journey. 

The route, in general, of those who went to the Pacific 
Coast by way of the Oregon Trail has been outlined thus : ^ 

The Trail, 2400 miles long, led up the Platte and its 
North Fork to Fort Laramie, around the Black Mountains 

205 



206 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

by the Sweetwater, to South Pass (7490 feet elevation), 
over this dip to the Green River, by Muddy Creek, to a pass 
over the divide, rimming the Bear River Valley on the east. 
This was the highest point of the whole long trail, 8230 
feet elevation. The road dropped down the Bear River 
to the most northern point of its course and then crossed 
over an insignificant watershed to Port Neuf River and 
Fort Hall on the Snake. Thus far the way was easy. To 
South Pass the ascent was so gradual that it was difficult 
to tell when the summit was reached, and the grassy road 
to the higher pass over the Bear River divide was only at 
times steeper than the national road in the Alleghenies. 

Fort Hall was 1200 miles from Independence and only a 
little over halfway to the mouth of the Columbia. But the 
last part of the road was the hardest. For three hundred 
miles across the desert without a fertile spot or any pastur- 
age the trail followed the Snake River, whose canyon walls 
for days together barred the thirsting herds from its rush- 
ing waters. From Salmon Falls the road, avoiding a wide 
bend of the river, cut across the plains to Fort Boise . . , 
whence it continued northward down the Snake again to 
Burnt River . . . The road turned off up the Burnt River 
Canyon, over a dividing ridge to the Upper Powder River, 
whose transverse valley pointed the line of easiest ascent 
up the steep slopes of the Blue Mountains. The range once 
surmounted by double teams, the Umatilla opened an eas^f 
path down to the Walla Walla and the great bend of the 
Columbia. 



This highway of travel has been spoken of ^ as "the most 
remarkable known to history. . . . Considering the fact 
that it originated with the spontaneous use of travellers; 
that no transit ever located a foot of it; that no level es- 
tablished its grades ; that no engineer sought out the fords or 
built any bridges or surveyed the mountain passes, that 
there was no grading to speak of nor any attempt at 
metalling the road bed; and the general good quality of 
these two thousand miles of highway will seem most ex- 
traordinary. Father de Smet, who was born in Belgium, the 



THE OREGON TRAIL 207 

home of good roads, pronounced the Oregon Trail one of 
the finest highways in the world. 

For many years men were not lacking who braved the \ 
dangers of this route for the sake of gain, but it was not 
until 1832 that the first actual emigrant of whom there is 
any account turned his face toward the Pacific. The name 
of the man was Jason Lee, a Methodist minister, who in 
1833 read an appeal for missionaries who would respond to 
the call of the Nez Perces Indians of Washington and Idaho 
to teach them the Bible. The appeal, which was addressed 
to anyone who would respond to the call from beyond the 
Rocky Mountains, read : ^ 

We are for having a mission established at once. Let 
two suitable men, unencumbered with families and possess- 
ing the spirit of martyrs, throw themselves into the nation, 
live with them, learn their language, preach Christ to them, 
and — as the way opens, — introduce schools, agriculture, and 
the arts of civilized life. The means for these improve- 
ments can be introduced through the fur traders, and by the 
reenforcements with which from time to time we can 
strengthen the mission. 

The call stirred the blood of Jason Lee, a young Ca- 
nadian, six feet three inches tall, and he persuaded his 
nephew, Daniel Lee, to accompany him.* 

Early in 1834 Lee and his nephew, with two other com- 
panions, rode on horseback to Independence. There they 
were to join the train of about two hundred hardy trappers 
and hunters, for it was necessary for travelers through 
the country beyond the Missouri to keep together, for com- 
mon defense against the Indians. 

Jason Lee soon became a great favorite with the hunters 
and trappers. They admired him because of his ability to 
endure hardships with the best of them, his readiness to do 
his share and more than his share of the work of camp and 
trail, and his manly, straightforward ways. 



208 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

For weeks the party traveled through the buffalo country, 
where meat was to be had in abundance. Hunting parties 
were regularly sent out to bring in a supply of the animals. 
But soon game became scarce, and entire days were passed 
without eating meat. Even when meat could be secured, 
it was often impossible to cook it, lest prowling bands of 
Indians, seeing the smoke from the fire, should pounce upon 
the camp. At such times there was nothing to do but go 
supperless to bed, or eat raw meat. While some tried to 
rest, others stood guard, for only by constant vigilance 
could the party hope to reach their goal. 

Finally the destination was reached, and the first mis- 
sion among the Oregon Indians was opened on the Willam- 
ette. 

Two years later another party of four missionaries set 
out from New York State to the Oregon Country,^ Dr. 
Marcus Whitman and his bride, and Dr. H. H. Spalding 
and his bride. They had arranged to join a party of fur 
traders of the American Fur Company at Independence, 
but when they reached the Missouri river they were dis- 
mayed to learn that the traders had set out four days before 
their arrival. 

Dr. Spalding said they must not think of going on alone ; 
they must return home. But Dr. Whitman said, "We will 
go on." And brave Mrs. Spalding carried the day by her 
determined words, "1 have started for Oregon, and to 
Oregon I will go, or leave my body on the plains." 

So the missionaries hurried on their way, hoping to over- 
take the fur traders within a week or ten days. But it 
proved to be a month. During this time Mrs. Spalding and 
Mrs. Whitman were the life of the company, encouraging 
the men when obstacles hindered them, and spurring them 
on when Dr. Spalding was tempted to say, "Let's go back." 
He didn't say this very often — but when he was "kicked by 
a mule, shaken by the ague, stripped by a tornado, not only 
of his tents but his blankets, and crowded off the ferry- 



THE OREGON TRAIL 209 

boat by an awkward, uncivilized frontier cow," it is not 
strange that he was discouraged. 

Dr. Whitman had provided a spring wagon for the two 
brides, but Mrs. Whitman preferred to ride on horseback at 
the side of her husband, leaving the wagon to Mrs. Spald- 
ing, who was not strong. On other horses rode the hus- 
bands and W. H. Gray, who was to be the business agent 
of the mission station. Following them came two teamsters, 
in charge of the wagons bearing the supplies. 

The fur traders' caravan was overtaken on Loupe Fork. 
In the united party there were more than two hundred men 
to oppose hostile Indians. The attention of many of these 
men had to be given to the six hundred animals taken along 
for food. These animals tempted the Indians, and it was 
necessary each night to camp with the stock in the center, 
around this the tents and wagons, and about the whole en- 
campment a company of vigilant sentinels. 

The united caravan had nineteen laden carts, each drawn 
by two mules driven tandem, and one light wagon belonging 
to the American Fur Company, a rival of the Hudson Bay 
Company that opposed the emigration from the United 
States; two wagons belonging to Captain Stuart, whose 
train was a part of the caravan, and one light two-horse 
wagon and one four-horse freight wagon belonging to the 
missionaries. 

The experienced plainsmen shook their heads when they 
learned that Dr. Whitman planned to take his wagons across 
the mountains; they explained that they would leave their 
own wagons at Fort Laramie. But Dr. Whitman insisted 
that the wagons must go all the way. He was not thinking 
merely of the convenience of those who would use them, 
but more of the great importance of proving to the world 
that a wagon could be taken to Oregon. He was looking 
forward to the day when there would be in that country 
more white people than Indians. Yet he knew that men 
and women would be prevented from making the journey 
by the statement that it was impossible for colonists to go 



210 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

to Oregon by wagon. An English editor had said thai 
American wagons could not go to the Columbia river, and 
Americans were believing him. It was Dr. Whitman's pur- 
pose to show the doubters that they were wrong. 

For many weeks of their journey the travelers had an 
abundance of food. In the buffalo country, where a single 
herd sometimes covered a thousand acres, the hunters could 
slaughter the noble animals at will. 

In anticipation of later days when game would be scarce, 
the caravan paused to "jerk" or dry the buffalo meat. The 
jerked meat did not seem very appetizing, so long as fresh, 
juicy buffalo steaks were to be had, but when the herds 
vanished, all were glad to eat it. Yet how they longed for 
a little bread to go with it! Once Mrs. Whitman wrote, 
"O for a few crusts of mother's bread; girls, don't waste 
the bread in the old home." 

"That is the nearest to a complaint the brave woman came 
during all the trying journey, in spite of scorching sun, the 
clouds of alkali dust that stung the eyes and throat, the 
impure water they were compelled to use, the myriads of 
mosquitoes and buffalo gnats," one of the historians of the 
journey has said. 

When, on July 4, 1836, the missionaries were at last 
over the crest of the Rockies, twenty-five hundred miles 
from home, they paused, spread their blankets, unfurled 
the American flag, and knelt in thankful prayer to dedicate 
to God the Oregon Country. The act meant more than 
the missionaries ever knew. One historian of Oregon ^ 
urges that it went far toward giving to the United States 
six thousand miles of Pacific coast. 

After this notable Fourth of July celebration, the march 
was resumed. Word of the advance of the caravan was 
taken by Indian scouts to a party of trappers and Indians 
who were encamped on the banks of the Green river. 

This exhilarating news immediately inspired . . . the 
trappers, foremost among whom was Meek, with a desire 



THE OREGON TRAIL 211 

to be the first to meet and greet the oncoming' caravan and 
especially to salute the two white women who were bold 
enough to invade a mountain camp.'^ In a very short time 
Meek, with half a dozen comrades and ten or a dozen Nez 
Perces, were mounted and away on the self-imposed errand 
of welcome; the trappers because they were "spoiling" for 
a fresh excitement, and the Nez Perces because the mis- 
sionaries were bringing them information concerning the 
powerful and beneficent Deity of the white men. 

On the Sweetwater about two days' travel from camp 
the caravan of the advancing company was discovered, and 
the trappers proposed to give them a characteristic greeting. 
To prevent mistakes in recognizing them, a white flag was 
hoisted on one of their guns, and the word was given to 
start. Then over the brow of a hill they made their ap- 
pearance, riding with that mad speed only an Indian or a 
trapper can ride, yelling, whooping, dashing forward with 
frantic and threatening gestures. 

The uninitiated travelers, believing they were about to 
be attacked by Indians, prepared for defence, nor could they 
be persuaded that the preparations were unnecessary until 
their guide pointed out to them the white flag in advance. 
At the assurance that the flag betokened friends, every 
movement of the wild brigade became fascinating. On they 
came, riding faster and faster, yelling louder and louder, 
and gesticulating more and more madly, until, as they met 
and passed the caravan, they discharged their guns in one 
volley over the heads of the company, and suddenly wheel- 
ing rode back to the front as wildly as they had come. Nor 
could this first brief display content the crazy cavalcade. 
After reaching the front, they rode back and forth, and 
around and around the caravan, which had returned their 
salute, showing off their feats of horsemanship, and the 
knowing tricks of their horses together; hardly stopping 
to exchange questions and answers but seeming really in- 
toxicated with delight at the meeting. What strange emo- 
tions filled the hearts of the missionaries, when they beheld 
the Indians among whom their lot was to be cast. . . . 

But it was towards . . . Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spald- 
ing that the chief interest was directed ; an interest that was 



212 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

founded in the Indian mind upon wonder, admiration, and 
awe; and in the minds of the trappers upon the powerful 
reflections awakened by seeing in their midst two refined 
Christian women, with the complexion and dress of their 
own mothers and sisters. United to the startling effects of 
memory was respect for the religious devotion which had in- 
spired them to undertake the long and dangerous journey 
to the Rocky Mountains, and also a sentiment of pity for 
what they knew only too well yet remained to be encoun- 
tered by these delicate women. 

That evening, when the party arrived in camp at the Nez 
Perces and Flathead village, on Green river, the frontiers- 
men looked reverently on the faces of the first white women 
they had seen in years. Years later one of them said: 
*'From that day when I again took the hand of a civilized 
woman, I was a better man." And a trapper said, "This is 
something the royal Hudson Bay Company, and its masters 
can't drive out of Oregon." He knew that the coming of 
the two women meant the dawning of civilization. 

The missionaries now prepared for their journey to the 
Columbia river.^ According to the advice of the moun- 
tain men the heaviest wagon was left at the rendezvous, to- 
gether with every heavy article that could be dispensed 
with. But Dr. Whitman refused to leave the light wagon, 
although assured that he would never be able to get it to 
the Columbia, nor even to the Snake river. The good 
Doctor had an immense fund of determination when there 
was an object to be gained or a principle involved. The 
only persons who did not oppose wagon transportation were 
the Indians. They sympathized with his determination and 
gave him their assistance. The evidence of a different and 
higher civilization than they had ever seen were held in 
high reverence by them. The wagon, the domestic cattle, 
especially the cows and calves, were always objects of great 
interest to them. Therefore they freely gave their assis- 
tance, and a sufficient number remained behind to help the 
Doctor, while the main oartv of both missionaries and In- 



THE OREGON TRAIL 213 

dians . . . proceeded to join the camp of two Hudson Bay- 
traders a few miles on their way. . . . 

By dint of great i>erseverance, Doctor Whitman con- 
tinued to keep up with the camp day after day, though often 
coming in very late and very weary, until the party ar- 
rived at Fort Hall. At the Fort their baggage was again 
reduced as much as possible ; and Doctor Whitman was com- 
pelled by the desertion of his teamster to take off two wheels 
of his wagon and transform it into a cart which could be 
more easily propelled in difficult places. With this he pro- 
ceeded as far as the Boise river where the Hudson Bay 
Company had a small fort or trading-post, but here again 
he was so strongly urged to relinquish the idea of taking 
his wagon to the Columbia that after much discussion he 
consented to leave it at Fort Boise until some future time 
when unencumbered by goods or passengers he might re- 
turn for it. 

The work was done, substantially.^ The wagon and the 
two brides, Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding, had won 
Oregon. The first wheels had marked the prairie, and 
brushed the sage, and grazed the rocks, and cut the river 
banks all the way from the Missouri to the Columbia. How 
many ten thousands have since been on that trail with their 
long line of white-topped canvas wagons! The first white 
woman had crossed the continent, and not only witnessed 
but achieved the victory . . . Oregon is already practically 
won. In going through, Whitman's wagon had demon- 
strated that women and children and household goods — the 
family — could be carried over the plains and mountains to 
Oregon. 



At last Dr. and Mrs. Spalding reached Lapwai, where 
they paused and founded a mission. Before many weeks 
Dr. and Mrs. Whitman found a site for their new home on 
the banks of the Walla Walla, among the Cayuse. The 
mission was called Wai-i-lat-pu, the Indian name for the 
spot. 

From that day Dr. Whitman had but two objects in life 
— to teach the Indians, and to win Oregon for the United 



214. ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

States. Both England and the United States claimed the 
territory by right of discovery, and in 1818 a treaty had 
been made for its joint occupation. Citizens of both coun- 
tries looked with longing eyes on the rich lands, and 
longed to see their own flag raised over these. There were 
Englishmen who declared that the territory should belong 
to them, since they alone could colonize it. 

A writer in the Edinburgh Review '^^ said, during this 
period of uncertainty: 

However the political question between England and 
America as to the ownership of Oregon may be decided, 
Oregon never can he colonized overland from the Eastern 
States ... In the meantime the long line of coast [of 
Oregon] invites emigration from the overpeopled shores of 
the old world. When once the Isthmus of Darien is ren- 
dered traversable the voyage will be easier and shorter than 
that to Australia, which 30,000 of our countrymen have 
made in a single year . . . The uttermost portions of the 
earth arc our inheritance ; let us not throw it away in mere 
supineness, or in deference to those wise sages of the dis- 
couraging school, who, had they been listened to, would 
have checked, once begun, all the enterprises which have 
checkered the face of the world in the last thirty years. 

But Dr. Whitman was determined to show the English 
that they were wrong. Perhaps he did more than any other 
man to encourage emigration and to help the emigrants on 
their way. 

Three years after the wagon had been left at Fort Boise, 
Thomas J. Farnham,^^ who was on his way to Oregon, 
wrote in his diary, under date of September 15 : 

Among the curiosities of this establishment were the fore 
wheels, axletree and thills of a one-horse wagon, said to 
have been run by the American missionaries from the State 
of Connecticut to the mountains thus far toward the mouth 
of the Columbia. It was left here under the belief that it 
could not be taken through the Blue Mountains. But for- 
tunately for the next that shall attempt to cross the conti- 



THE OREGON TRAIL 215 

nent, a safe and easy passage has lately been discovered by 
which vehicles of this kind may be drawn through to Walla 
Walla. 

Within two weeks Farnham had a taste of the mountain 
traveling of which Dr. Whitman had been warned when he 
was urged to leave his wagon at Fort Boise. On October i 
he wrote: ^^ 

Awhile we led our animals through the tangled wood, 
and then along a steep gravelly side of the chasm, where the 
foothold slid at every step; then awhile among the rolling 
stones so thickly strewn upon the ground that the horses 
touched between them ; and again awhile we seemed to hang 
on to the cliffs, and pause between advancing and follow- 
ing the laws of gravitation to the bed of the torrent that 
battled its way in the caverns far below; and then in the 
desperation of a last effort climbed the bank to a place of 
safety. At length we arrived at a large indentation in the 
face of the mountain, up the encircling rise of which the 
trail for half a mile was of comparatively easy ascent. At 
the end of this distance another difficulty was superadded 
to all we had yet experienced. The slope was covered to 
the depth of several feet with "cut rock" — dark shining 
cubes from one to three inches in diameter with sharp cor- 
ners and edges. It was well nigh impossible to force our 
horses over them . , . The poor animals would slip, and 
gather, and cripple; and when unable longer to endure the 
cutting stone under their feet, would suddenly drop on their 
knees ; but the pain caused by that position would soon force 
them to rise again, and struggle up the ascent. An half hour 
of such traveling passed us over the stony surface to the 
smooth grassy swells, the surface of which was earthy and 
pleasant to the lacerated feet of our horses. 

Next day Farnham came to the camp of an Indian and 
his wife and children. In the evening he sat with the family. 

The wife presented a dish of meat to her husband, and 
one to myself. There was a pause. The woman seated her- 
self between her children. The Indian then bowed his head 



216 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

and prayed to God ! A wandering savage in Oregon calling 
upon Jehovah in the name of Jesus Christ! After the 
prayer, he gave meat to his children, and passed the dish to 
his wife. 

While eating, the frequent repetition of the words 
Jehovah and Jesus Christ, in the most reverential manner 
led me to suppose they were conversing on religious topics, 
and thus they passed an hour. Meanwhile, the exceeding 
weariness of a long day's travel admonished me to seek 
rest. 

I had slumbered, I know not how long, when a strain 
of music awoke me. I was about rising to ascertain whether 
the sweet notes of Tallis's Chant came to these solitudes 
from earth or sky, when a full recollection of my situation, 
and of the religious habits of my host, easily solved the 
rising inquiry, and induced me to observe instead of dis- 
turbing. The Indian family was engaged in its evening de- 
votion. They were singing a hymn in the Nez Perces lan- 
guage. Having finished it, they all bowed their faces upon 
the buffalo robes, and Crickie prayed long and fervently. 
Afterwards they sang another hymn and retired. This was 
the first breathing of religious feeling that I had seen since 
leaving the States. 

Next day the traveler was at Wai-i-lat-pu. 

Another year passed before two of the wagons left by 
the wayside by Dr. Whitman were picked up. In 1840, 
Joseph Meek, the noted trapper, with a companion named 
Newell, decided to retire to a farm on the Willamette. 
Taking the two wagons left by Dr. Whitman at Fort Hall, 
they packed them with their goods and their families, and 
vStarted for Walla WaUa. Nicholas Craig and several other 
mountain men accompanied the party. Meek drove a team 
of four horses and one mule. Craig drove a team of four 
horses, and Newell, as the leader of the train, was mounted 
on a horse. 

The journey was no easy one, extending as it did over 
immense plains of lava, round impassable canyons, over 



THE OREGON TRAIL 217 

rapid unbridged rivers, and over mountains hitherto be- 
lieved to be passable only for pack trains. ^^ The honor 
which has heretofore been accorded to the Presbyterian mis- 
sionaries solely, of opening a wagon road from the Rocky 
Mountains to the Columbia River, should in justice be di- 
vided with these two mountaineers, who accomplished the 
most difficult part of this difficult journey. 

At Walla Walla the wagons were left, on account of the 
rainy season. The goods were transferred to pack-horses 
for the remainder of the journey. During the next year 
one of the wagons was taken the remainder of the way. 



II. TRAVEL! TRAVEL! TRAVEL! 

Upon the lofty bound I stand 

That parts the East and West; 
Before me — lies a fairy land; 

Behind — a home of rest! 
Here hope her wild enchantment flings, 
Portrays all bright and lovely things, 

My footsteps to allure — 
But there in memory's light I see 
All that was once most dear to me — 

My young heart's cynosure ! 

— Mrs. Laura M. Thurston. 

The year before Meek's attempt to take the Whitman 
wagons to the Willamette, F. A. Wislizenus made the 
journey from the Missouri to the Columbia in company 
with a caravan of fur traders. The story of his trip was 
told in his diary.^^ In one of the most interesting chapters 
in the diary, Dr. Wislizenus wrote of the beginning of the 
journey and the organization of the caravan: 

I went up the Missouri on the steamboat St. Peters to 
Chouteau's Landing. Our trip, which lasted six days, be- 
cause the water was at a very low stage, offered nothing of 
special interest. 

The border village. West Port, is six miles distant from 
Chouteau's Landing. There I intended to await the de- 
parture of this year's annual caravan. The village has per- 
haps thirty or forty houses, and is only a mile from the 
western border of the State of Missouri, It is the usual 
rendezvous for travelers to the Rocky Mountains, as is 
Independence, twelve miles distant for those journeying to 
Santa Fe. 

I bought a horse and a mule, the former to ride, the latter 

218 



THE OREGON TRAIL 219 

for my baggage; and made other preparations necessary 
for my journey. 

On May 4th the different parties who were to join the 
expedition met for their first night camp at SapHng Grove, 
about eight miles from West Port. , . . 

My first day's journey began under evil auspices, for I 
had not yet learned to pack my mule. The usual way of 
doing it is this: The baggage is divided into two equal 
parts, each part firmly bound up, and hung by loops on 
either side of the yoke-shaped pack saddle. The whole is 
further fastened by the so-called "lash-rope," of stout 
buffalo leather, which is first wound around the barrel of 
the animal, and then in diamond shaped turns as firmly as 
possible around the pack. My baggage weighed 150 to 200 
pounds, a quite ordinary load for a mule ; but I had not di- 
vided the burden properly, so that I had to repack repeated- 
ly on the road. It was well toward evening when I reached 
the camp, where the others already had arrived. 

Our caravan was small. It consisted of only twenty- 
seven persons. Nine of them were in the service of the 
Fur Company of St. Louis (Chouteau, Pratte and Com- 
pany), and were to bring the merchandise to the yearly 
rendezvous on the Green river. Their leader was Mr. 
Harris, a mountaineer without special education but with 
five sound senses that he well knew how to use. All the rest 
joined the expedition as individuals. Among them were 
three missionaries, two of them accompanied by their wives, 
whom a Christian zeal for converting the heathen ur^ed to 
the Columbia. Some others spoke of a permanent settle- 
ment on the Columbia ; again, others intended to go to Cali- 
fornia, and so on. Almost all, however, were actuated by 
some commercial motive. The majority of the party were 
Americans; the rest consisted of French Canadians, a few 
Germans, and a Dane. 

The Fur Company transported its goods on two-wheeled 
carts, of which there were four, each drawn by two mules, 
and loaded with 800 to 900 pounds. The rest put their 
packs on mules or horses, of which there were fifty to sixty 
in the caravan. 

Our first camp, Sapling Grove, was in a little hickory 



220 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

wood, with fresh spring water. Our animals we turned 
loose to graze in the vicinity. To prevent them from stray- 
ing far, either the two fore feet, or the forefoot and hind- 
foot of one side are bound together with so-called "hobbles." 
In order that they may easily be caught, they drag a long 
rope of buffalo leather (trail rope). At night stakes 
(pickets) are driven into the earth at some distance from 
each other, and the animals are fastened to them by ropes. 

After we had attended to our animals, and had eaten 
supper, we sprawled around a fire and whiled away the 
evening with chatting and smoking ; then wrapped ourselves 
in our woolen blankets — the only bed one takes with one — 
and slept for the first time under our little tents, of which 
we had seven. 

At dawn the leader rouses the camp with an inharmoni- 
ous: "Get up! Get up! Get up!" Every one rises. The 
first care is for the animals. They are loosed from their 
pickets and allowed an hour for grazing. Meanwhile we 
prepare our breakfast, strike our tents, and prepare for the 
start. The animals are driven in again, packed and saddled. 

We move off in corpore. We proceed at a moderate pace, 
in front the leader with his carts, behind him in line long 
drawn out the mingled riders and pack animals. In the 
early days of the journey we are apt to lead the pack animals 
by rope ; later on we leave them free and drive them before us. 

At first packing causes novices much trouble on the way. 
Here the towering pack leans to one side ; there it topples 
imder the animal's belly. At one time the beast stands stock 
still with its swaying load ; at another it rushes madly off, 
kicking out till it is free of its burden. But pauseless, like 
an army over its fallen, the train moves on. With bottled- 
up wrath the older men, with raging and swearing the 
younger ones, gather up their belongings, load the beast 
afresh, and trot after the column. 

Toward noon a rest of an hour or two is made, if a suit- 
able camp can be found, the chief requisites being fresh 
water, good grass, and sufficient wood. We unload the 
beasts to let them graze, and prepare a mid-day meal. Then 
we start off again, and march on till toward sunset. 

We set up the tents, prepare our meal, lie around the fire, 



THE OREGON TRAIL 221 

and then, wrapped in our woolen blankets, commit our- 
selves to our fate till the next morning. In this way twenty 
to twenty-five miles are covered daily. 

The only food the animals get is grass. For ourselves, 
we take with us the first week some provisions, such as 
ham, ship-biscuit, tea and coffee. Afterwards, we depend 
on hunting. 

Not until 1842 did as many as one hundred homeseekers \ 
win their way to the end of the Oregon Trail, but in 1843 \ 
the number approached one thousand. Peter H. Burnett ^^ 
of Weston, Missouri, was one of that year's emigrants. 
Among his neighbors he organized a wagon company, and 
on May 8, 1843, he went to the rendezvous near Independ' 
ence, with two ox wagons, a small two-horse wagon, four 
yoke of oxen, and two mules. 

The start from Independence was made on May 22. 

The weather being clear, and the road as good as pos- 
sible, the day's journey was most delightful. The white- 
sheeted wagon and the five teams, moving in the wilderness 
of green prairie, made the most lovely appearance. The 
place was very beautiful; and no scene appeared to our en- 
thusiastic vision more exquisite than the sight of so many 
wagons, tents, fires, cattle, and people, as were here col- 
lected. At night the sound of joyous music was heard in 
the tents. Our long journey thus began in sunshine and 
song, in anecdote and laughter, but these all vanished before 
we reached its termination. 

Of the journey across the valley of the Platte, Mr. 
Burnett said : 

One great difficulty in this part of the trip was the 
scarcity of fuel. Sometimes we found dry willows, some- 
times we picked up pieces of driftwood along the way, 
which we put into our wagons, and hauled them until we 
needed them. At many points of the route up the Platte 
we had to use buffalo chips. By cutting a trench some 
ten inches deep, six inches wide, and two feet long, we were 



222 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

enabled to get along with very little fuel. At one or two 
places the wind was so severe that we were forced to use 
the trenches in order to make a fire at all. 

On the 27th of June our people had halted for lunch at 
noon, and to rest the teams and allow the oxen to graze. 
Our wagons were about three hundred yards from the river, 
and were strung out in line to the distance of one mile. 
While taking our lunch we saw seven buffalo bulls on the 
opposite side of the river, coming toward us, as if they in- 
tended to cross the river in the face of our whole caravan. 
When they arrived on the opposite bank they had a full 
view of us; and yet they deliberately entered the river, 
wading a part of the distance, and swimming the remainder. 
When we saw that they were determined to cross at all 
hazards, our men took their rifles, formed in line between 
the wagons and the river, and awaited the approach of 
the animals. So soon as they rose the bank, they came in 
a rush, broke boldly through the line of the men, and bore 
to the left of the wagons. Three of them were killed, and 
most of the others wounded. 

On July I, the party was about to cross the South Fork 
of the Platte. 

We made three boats by covering our wagon boxes or 
beds with green buffalo hides sewed together, stretched 
tightly over the boxes, flesh side out, and tacked on with 
large tacks, and the boxes, thus covered, were turned up to 
the sun until the hides were thoroughly dry. The process 
of drying green hides had to be repeated several times. 

As far as Fort Hall the trail was good. We had yet to 
accomplish the untried and most difficult portion of our long 
and exhaustive journey. We could not anticipate at what 
moment we might be compelled to abandon our wagons in 
the mountains, pack our scant supplies on our four oxen, 
and make our way on foot through the terribly rough coun- 
try as best we could. We fully comprehended the situation, 
but we never faltered in our inflexible determination to ac- 
complish the trip, if within the limits of possibility, with the 
resources at our command. Dr. Whitman assured us that 



THE OREGON TRAIL 223 

we could succeed, and encouraged and aided us with every 
means in liis power. 



The trip to Fort Walla Walla, 1691 miles, required 147 
days. The average trip per day was thus less than twelve 
miles. The emigrants paused at Dr. Whitman's mission 
to rest and lay in a fresh supply of provisions. There 
were those who cried out that the missionary was exploiting 
them, that he had urged them to go that way for his own 
profit. Was he not selling wheat at a dollar a bushel and 
potatoes at forty cents? In Missouri they had sold wheat 
for sixty cents a bushel and potatoes for twenty-five cents. 
There were those who refused to listen to the explanation 
made to them that conditions were quite different, and they 
refused to buy. Later, it became necessary for the wise 
purchasers to divide with those who had failed to supply 
their needs because of their suspicions of Dr. Whitman. 

But many emigrants understood better the spirit of the 
missionary of Wai-i-lat-pu. On his return from his trip 
of 1842 to Washington, where he outlined a plan for a 
territorial government for the country of his adoption, he 
inspired a large company to go with him to the West. Of 
his activities on this trip one who knew him said: 

He was the ministering angel to the sick, helping the 
weary, encouraging the wavering, cheering the tired 
mothers, setting broken bones, and mending wagons. He 
was in the front, in the center, and in the rear. He was in 
the river, hunting out fords, through the quicksands, in 
the desert place looking for water and grass, among the 
mountains hunting for passes never before trodden by white 
men. At noontide and at midnight he was on the alert as 
if the whole line was his own family, and as if all the flocks 
and herds were his own. For all this he never asked nor 
expected a dollar from any source, and especially did he 
feel repaid at the end, when, standing at his mission home, 
hundreds of his fellow pilgrims took him by the hand and 
thanked him with tears in their eyes for all he had done. 



224 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

At Fort Hall, Captain Grant, the servant of the Hudson 
Bay Company, tried to discourage the emigrants from 
tak'ng their wagons and farm tools with them. He pointed 
to a yard full of wagons and tools which other settlers had 
left behind. The emigrants were ready to do as he asked, 
until Whitman promised to help them through the moun- 
tains, wagons and all. 

How he succeeded in the task he set himself may be 
judged from a single incident of the way, after Fort Hall 
had been left behind : 

Wher the emigrants reached the Snake River, Dr. Whit- 
man proceeded to fasten wagons together in one long string, 
the strong est in the lead. As soon as the teams were in posi- 
tion, he tit d a rope around his waist, and, starting his horse 
into the cuTent, swam over. He called to others to follow 
him, and, vhen they had force enough to pull at the rope, 
the lead te^m was started in, and all were drawn over in 
safety ; as soon as the leading teams were able to get foot- 
hold on the bottom, all were safe, as they, guided by the 
strong arms of the men pulling at the rope, pulled the 
weaker ones along. 

One of the members of this company of 1843 was Jesse 
Applegate. In Lis journal of the trip ^^ he gave a pleasing 
picture of the afternoon and evening of a long day : 

It is now one o'clock; the bugle has sounded, and the 
caravan has resumed its westward journey. It is in the 
same order but the evening is far less animated than the 
morning march ; a drowsiness has fallen apparently on man 
and beast; teamsters drop asleep on their perches and even 
when walking by the teams, and the words of command are 
now addressed to th * slowly creeping oxen in the soft tones 
of women or the piping treble of children, while the snores 
of the teamsters make a droning accompaniment. But a 
little incident broke the monotony of the march. An emi- 
grant's wife, whose state of health has caused Doctor Whit- 
man to travel near the wagon for the day, is now taken with 
violent illness. The Doctor has had the wagon driven out 




Froiu Grrfj</'s "Commerce of the Prairies' 



CARAVAN ON THE MARCH 




/■/■-,,„ ll,trlhirs ■■ rr.r,,s. .Wu' Mr.,;,;, ,nnl Califoniiit'' 

IV AGON TRAIN STAMPEDED BY WILD HORSES 



THE OREGON TRAIL 225 

of the line, a tent pitched and a fire kindled. Many con- 
jectures are being made in regard to the mysterious proceed- 
ing . . . The sun is now getting low in the west, and at 
length the painstaking pilot is standing ready to conduct the 
teams in the circle which he has previously measured and 
marked out, which is to form the invisible fortification for 
the night. The leading wagons follow him so evenly 
around the arch that but a wagon's length separates them. 
Each wagon follows in the track, until its tongue and ox- 
chain will perfectly reach from one to the other, and so 
accurate the measure and perfect the practice, that the 
hindmost wagon of the train always precisely closes the 
gateway, as each wagon is brought into position. It is 
dropped from its team (the team being inside the circle), 
the team unyoked and the yokes and chains are used to 
connect the wagon strongly with that in front. Within ten 
minutes from the time the leading wagon halted, the barri- 
cade is formed, the teams unyoked and driven out to pasture. 
Every one is busy preparing fires of buffalo chips to cook 
the evening meal, pitching tents and otherwise preparing for 
the night. There are anxious watchers for the absent 
wagon, for there are many matrons who may be afflicted 
like its inmate before the journey is over . . . But as the 
sun goes down the absent wagon rolls into camp, the bright, 
speaking face and cheery look of the doctor, who rides in 
advance, declares without words that all is well, and both 
mother and child are comfortable. 

I would fain now and here pay a passing tribute to that 
noble and devoted man. Doctor Whitman . . . His great 
experience and indomitable energy were of priceless value 
to the migrating column. His constant advice, which we 
knew was based upon a knowledge of the road before us, 
was "Travel, travel, travel/' nothing else will take you to 
the end of your journey; nothing is wise that does not help 
you along ; nothing is good for you that causes a moment's 
delay. His great authority as a physician saved us many 
prolonged and perhaps ruinous delays, and it is no dispar- 
agement to others to say that to no other individual are the 
emigrants of 1843 so much indebted for the successful con- 
clusion of their journey as to Doctor Marcus Whitman. 



226 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Another pleasing picture of an evening on the road was 
given in the diary of one who later became a member of 
the Oregon Territorial Legislature, who had left Inde- 
pendence with a party May 17, 1843.^' O^ J^^y 3^ ^^e 
caravan came in sight of the Rockies. 

This event was worthy of the commemoration of an en- 
campment, and we accordingly wound up the line two hours 
earlier than usual. The hunters of our party had been 
fortunate this day in obtaining some fine antelope and two 
fat young buffaloes, and we set out for a regular feast. 
When the meal was over, and when the prospective perils 
which lay in the entrails of those grim giants had been 
canvassed again and again, we broke from all grave con- 
siderations to consecrate the evening to merriment. The 
night was beautiful, scarcely a breath stirred the air, and 
the bright stars in the blue vault above looked brighter than 
ever. The camp fires streaming upwards from the prairie 
plains flooded the tents with their mellow light, and made 
the tops of the quadrangular barricade of wagons look like 
a fortification of molten gold. Jim Wayne's fiddle was at 
once in request, and set after set went in upon the sward 
to foot a measure to its notes. McFarley and the repre- 
sentatives of Big Pigeon forgot in the moment all the bick- 
erings of their ambitions, and formed two of a party 
(amongst whom was my old friend, Green, the Missourian,) 
who listened to the Indian traditions of Captain Gant, and 
then told their own wonderful stories in return. The 
revelry was kept up till a late hour, and the result was that 
the whole party went to bed worn out with pleasure and 
fatigue. 

During the next year, 1844, William M. Case of Indiana 
joined the Oregon cavalcade. His hunger for Oregon dated 
back to the day when William Henry Harrison, then United 
States Senator, gave him a copy of the Journal of the Lewis 
and Clark expedition to the Columbia. Over this he used 
to pore until he knew it almost word for *.vord. When 
he grew older and announced his purpose to go to the 



THE OREGON TRAIL 227 

Pacific coast, his father's only counsel was, "Take a wife 
with you." ^* 

He joined a train of sixty wagons which crossed the 
Missouri at the site of Omaha, Nebraska. There were two 
divisions in the company, and these moved in parallel lines, 
about a quarter of a mile to half a mile apart, that the 
wagons might all be within easy supporting distance of each 
other in case of attack. At night all the wagons came to- 
gether, and formed a corral, the tents being pitched inside 
of this. John Marshall, who discovered gold in California 
four years later, was a member of the caravan. 

In the Platte Valley, a herd of buffaloes was seen com- 
ing toward the train. The first warning was the sound of 
what many thought was distant thunder. The front of the 
line was perhaps half a mile long, and moved onward like 
a tornado. Their one chance of safety seemed to be to 
drive ahead as rapidly as possible in the hope of getting 
out of range. So the oxen were urged to run. 

The flying herds of the buffalo passed but a few yards 
to the rear of the last wagons; they were going at such a 
rate that to be struck by them would have been like the 
shock of rolling bowlders of a ton's weight. 

Near Fort Platte word was received from the commander 
that they should remain where they were. There was a 
company of Sioux Indians at the Fort, and he feared they 
were meditating mischief. "If you have any one with you 
who can understand Sioux, send him on," the message con- 
cluded. 

So a Frenchman who understood the language was sent 
to the fort. He rode fearlessly among the Sioux, of whom 
there were about three thousand. Once he heard an Indian 
say how he wanted a white man's horse. To him the chief 
replied, "Wait a few days, until the emigrants come up, 
and we shall have all their horses." 

Craftily the Frenchman saw to it that a report was 
circulated among the Indians of the death from smallpox 
of one of the approaching emigrants. The alarmed savages 



228 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

lost no time in fleeing from the fort, and were not seen 
there again that summer. 

After the Sioux country had been left behind it was dis- 
covered that at least one hundred of the one hundred and 
twenty men in the company were worthless idlers. The 
work was left to the twenty dependable men. The others 
played cards, danced and fiddled all the evening, and slept 
late next day, until the women called them. Finally the 
twenty men who had to rise at two o'clock each morning 
to hunt the cattle which, in grazing, had wandered far 
away, decided they could do this no longer for the one hun- 
dred idlers. One morning they left the others behind, sleep- 
ing, and continued their journey. Before night the train 
was in two sections, the workers and the fiddlers. 



III. WITH FRANCIS PARKMAN ON THE TRAIL 

They knew no dread of danger 

When rose the Indian's yell, 
Right gallantly they struggled, 

Right gallantly they fell: 
From Alleghany's summit 

To the farthest western shore 
These brave men's forms are lying 

Where they perished in their gore; 
And not a single monument 

Is seen in all the land, 
In honor of the memory 

Of that heroic band. 

— Charles A. Jones. 

No picture of the Oregon Trail is complete without a ^, 
reference to Francis Parkman's masterly description of the 
first stages of the journey : ^^ 

Last spring, 1846, was a busy season in the city of St. 
Louis. Not only were emigrants from every part of the 
country preparing for the journey to Oregon and Cali- 
fornia, but an unusual number of traders were making 
ready their wagons and outfits for Santa Fe. The hotels 
were crowded, and the gunsmiths and saddlers were kept 
constantly at work in providing arms and equipment for 
the different parties of travellers. Almost every day steam- 
boats were leaving the levee and passing up the Missouri, 
crowded with passengers on the way to the frontier. 

In one of these, the Radnor, . . . my friend and relative, 
Quincy A. Shaw, and myself left St. Louis on the twenty- 
fifth of April on a tour of curiosity and amusement to the 
Rocky Mountains. The boat was loaded until the water 
broke alternately over her guards. Her upper deck was 
covered with large wagons of a peculiar form, for the 
Santa Fe trade, and the hold was crammed with goods for 

229 



230 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

the same destination. There were also the equipments and 
provisions of a party of Oregon emigrants, a band of mules 
and horses, piles of saddles, and a multitude of nondescript 
articles, indispensable on the prairies. 

... In five or six days we began to see signs of the great 
western movement that was taking place. Parties of emi- 
grants, with their tents and wagons, were encamped on 
open spots near the bank, on their way to the coQimon 
rendezvous at Independence. 

The scene at Independence he described thus : 

On the muddy shore stood some thirty or forty dark, 
slawish looking Spaniards, gazing stupidly out from be- 
neath their broad hats. They were attached to one of the 
Santa Fe companies, whose wagons were crowded together 
on the banks above. In the midst of these, crouching over 
a smouldering fire, was a group of Indians, belonging to 
a remote Mexican tribe. One or two French hunters from 
the mountains, with their long hair and buckskin dresses, 
were looking at the boat, and seated on a log close at hand 
were three men, with rifles lying across their knees. The 
foremost of these, a tall, strong figure, with a clear, blue 
eye and an open, intelligent face, might very well represent 
that race of restless and intrepid pioneers whose axes and 
rifles have opened a path from the Alleghanies to the west- 
ern prairies. He was on his way to Oregon, probably a 
more congenial field to him than any that now remained on 
this side the great plains. 

Mr. Parkman went on to Kansas City. There he wrote : 

The emigrants . . . were encamped on the prairies about 
eight or ten miles distant, to the number of a thousand or 
more, and new parties were constantly passing out from 
Independence to join them. They were in great companies, 
holding meetings, passing resolutions, and drawing up regu- 
lations, but unable to unite in the choice of leaders to con- 
duct them across the prairie. 

Being at leisure one day, I rode over to Independence. 
The town was crowded. A multitude of shops had sprung 



THE OREGON TRAIL 231 

up to furnish the emigrants and Santa Fe traders with 
necessaries for the journey ; and there was an incessant ham- 
mering and banging from a dozen blacksmith sheds, where 
the heavy wagons were being repaired, and the horses and 
oxen shod. The streets were thronged with men, horses, 
and mules. While I was in the store, a train of emigrant 
wagons from Illinois passed through to join the camp on 
the prairies, and stopped on the principal street. A multi- 
tude of healthy children's faces were peeping out from un- 
der the covers of the wagons. Here and there a buxom 
damsel was seated on horseback, holding over her sunburnt 
face an old umbrella or a parasol, once gaudy enough but 
now miserably faded. The m.en, very sober-looking coun- 
trymen, stood about their oxen. 

Some time after the beginning of the journey of the 
party, which was made up in part of Parkman and his 
associate, as well as a British captain and his brother and 
guide, the captain insisted that the plans of the caravan 
must be reorganized. "Our whole system is wrong," he 
said. "Why, the way we travel, strung out over the 
prairie for a mile, an enemy might attack the foremost 
riders and cut them off before the others could come up. 
. . . Then we might be attacked in camp. We've no senti- 
nels, we camp in disorder; no precaution at all to guard 
against surprise. . . . We ought to camp in a hollow 
square, with the fire in the center, and have sentinels, and 
a regular password appointed for every night. Beside, 
there should be videttes riding in advance, to find a place 
for the camp and give warning of an enemy." 

Perhaps it was because of the distracting insistence of 
the captain on these precautions, needless on the first stages 
of the journey, that the caravan managed to get out of the 
direct track and had to strike the St. Joseph Trail, and 
follow this till it intersected the Oregon Trail. For eight 
days they did not see a human being, then one night as they 
sat around the camp-fire they were gratified by hearing the 
faint voices of men and women. 



232 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

About dark a sallow-faced fellow . . . rode up to the 
tents . . . another followed, a stout, square-built, intelli- 
gent-looking man, who announced himself as leader of an 
emigrant party, encamped one mile in advance of us. About 
twenty wagons, he said, were with him; the rest of his 
party were on the other side of the Big Blue, quarreling 
among themselves. 

These were the first emigrants that we had overtaken, 
although we had found abundant and melancholy traces of 
their progress throughout the whole course of the journey. 
Sometimes we passed the grave of one who had sickened 
and died on the way. The earth was usually torn up, and 
covered thickly with wolf-tracks. Some had escaped this 
violation. One morning, a piece of plank, standing upright 
on the summit of a grassy hill, attracted our notice, and 
riding up to it, we found the following words very rightly 
traced upon it, apparently with a red-hot piece of iron : 

MARY ELLEN 

Died May 7, 1845 
Aged two months. 

We were late in breaking up our camp on the following 
morning, and scarcely had we ridden a mile when we saw, 
far in advance of us, drawn against the horizon, a line of 
objects stretching at regular intervals along the level ^dge 
of the prairie. An intervening swell soon hid them from 
sight, until, ascending it a quarter of an hour after, we 
saw close before us the emigrant caravan, with its heavy 
white wagons coming on in their slow procession, and a 
large drove of cattle following behind. Half a dozen yel- 
low-visaged Missourians, mounted on horseback, were curs- 
ing and shouting among them, their lank, angular propor- 
tions enveloped in brown homespun, evidently cut and ad- 
justed by the hands of a domestic female tailor. As we ap- 
proached, they called out to us: "How are ye, boys? Are 
you for Oregon or California?" 

As we pushed rapidly past the wagons, children's faces 
were thrust out from the white coverings to look at us; 
while the care-worn, thin-featured matron, or the buxom 



THE OREGOX TRAIL 233 

girl, seated in front, suspended the knitting- on which most 
of them were engaged to stare at us with wondering 
curiosity. By the side of each , wagon stalked the pro- 
prietor, urging on his patient oxen, who shouldered heavily 
along, inch by inch, on their interminable journey. 

That night the dissension that had been smouldering in 
the emigrant caravan broke out, and a portion of the com- 
pany left and asked to join Parkman's party. They were 
told that the slow oxen would find it difficult to keep pace 
with Parkman's mules, but the leader of the disaffected 
emigrants replied that his oxen should keep up ; and if they 
couldn't, why, he allowed, he'd find out how to make 'em. 

Yet almost at once the men with the oxen went ahead. 
The axle-tree of the wagon of Parkman's English com- 
panions broke and let down the vehicle in the bed of a brook. 
During the day required to repair damages, the oxen man- 
aged to get so far ahead that it was a week before all the 
party were together once rriore. 

Not long after the emigrants had been overtaken, the 
men encamped on the banks of the Platte. There Park- 
man wrote: 

Among the emigrants was an overgrown boy, some eigh- 
teen years old, with a head as round and about as large as 
a pumpkin, and fever-and-ague fits had dyed his face to a 
corresponding color. He wore an old white hat, tied under 
his chin with a handkerchief; his body was short and stout, 
but his legs of disproportioned and appalling length. I ob- 
served him at sunset, breasting the hill with gigantic strides, 
and standing against the sky on the summit like a colossal 
pair of tongs. In a moment after we heard him screaming 
frantically behind the ridge, and, nothing doubting that he 
was in the clutches of Indians or grizzly bears, some of the 
party caught up their rifles and ran to the rescue. His out- 
cries, however, proved but an ebullition of joyous excite- 
ment; he had chased two little wolf-pups to their burrow, 
and was on his knees, grubbing away like a dog at the mouth 
of the hole to jret at them. 



234. ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

During the night this boy was the cause of even greater 
anxiety : 

It was his turn to hold the middle-guard, but no sooner | 
was he called up than he coolly arranged a pair of saddle- 
bags under a wagon, laid his head upon them, closed his 
eyes, opened his mouth and fell asleep. The guard on our 
side of the camp, thinking it no part of his duty to look 
after the cattle of the emigrants, contented himself with 
watching over our horses and mules; the wolves, he said, 
were unusually noisy; but still no mischief was forboded, 
but when the sun rose not a hoof or a horn was in sight. 
The cattle were gone. While Tom was quietly sleeping, the 
wolves had driven them away. 

When the South Fork of the Platte was reached the emi- 
grants crossed the river in advance. First the heavy ox- 
wagons plunged down the bank and dragged slowly over 
the sand-beds; sometimes the hoofs of the oxen were 
scarcely wet by the thin sheet of water; and the next mo- 
ment the river would be boiling against their sides, and 
eddying around the wheels. Inch by inch they receded 
from the shore, dwindling every moment, until at length 
they seemed to be floating far out in the middle of the river. ' 
A more critical experiment awaited us; for our little mule- 
cart was ill-fitted for the passage of so swift a stream. We 
watched it with anxiety, till it seemed a motionless white 
speck in the midst of the waters ; and it was motionless, for 
it had stuck fast in a quicksand. The little mules were los- 
ing their footing, the wheels were sinking deeper and deeper 
and the water began to rise through the bottom and drench 
the goods within. All of us who had remained in the 
hither bank galloped to the rescue; the men jumped into 
the water, until by much effort the cart was extricated, 
and conveyed in safety across. . . . 

One more paragraph by Parkman should be quoted: 

It is worth noting that on the Platte one may sometimes 
see the shattered wrecks of ancient claw-footed tables, well 
waxed and rubbed, or a massive bureau of carved oak. 
These, some of them no doubt the relics of ancestral pro»- 



THE OREGON TJLKIL 235 

peritT in the ccianial time, must have encountered strang:e 
vicissitudes. Imported, perhaps, originally from England, 
then, with the declining fortunes of their owners, borne 
across the Alleghanies to the wilderness of Ohio or Ken- 
tucky: then to Illinois or Missouri, and now at last fondly 
stowed away in the family wagon for the interminable 
journey to Oregon. But the stem privations of the way 
are httle anticipated. The cherished rehc is soon flung out 
to scorch and crack upon the hot prairie. 



IV. LEARNING BY BITTER EXPERIENCE 



I 



Strike the tent ! the sun has risen ; not a vapor streaks the dawn. 
And the frosted prairie brightens to the westward, far and near: 
Prime afresh the trusty rifle, sharpen well the hunting spear — 
For the frozen sod is trembling, and the noise of hoofs I hear ! 

!Myriad hoofs will scar the prairie, in our wild, resistless race, 
And a sound, like mighty waters, thunders down the desert's face : 
Yet the rein may not be tightened, nor the rider's eye look back — 
Death to him whose speed should slacken, on the maddened bison's 
track. 

— Bayard Taylor. 

One of the emigrant parties of 1847 was far better 
equipped than the average, and the journey was free from 
the privations that made the Oregon Trail one long night- 
mare to so many people. Hugh Cosgrove was a member 
of the company of thirteen families, which started from 
Illinois in April.^® The equipment consisted of three well- 
built wagons, drawn by three yokes of oxen, and a herd 
of fifteen cows. 

When he was ninety years old Mr, Cosgrove spoke of 
the journey as one long picnic : 

The animals of the prairie, the Indians, the traders and 
trappers of the mountain country, the progress of the sea- 
son, which was exceptionally mild, just about sufficed to 
keep up the interest . . . Almost all migration has been 
carried on in circumstances of danger and distress, but this 
was, although daring in the extreme, a summer jaunt. 

After making the drive across Iowa and Missouri in the 
springtime the Missouri river was crossed, a week being 
spent at St. Joseph, waiting for the horses. The company 

236 



THE OREGON TRAIL 237 

was organized, of course. There was no lack of materials, 
as, besides this party of thirteen families, there were hun- 
dreds of others gathering at St. Joseph, the emigration of 
that year amounting to almost two thousand persons. A 
train of one hundred and fourteen wagons was soon made 
up. 

Almost immediately after starting trappers met them 
and urged them to break up in parties of not over fifteen 
wagons each; unless this was done, they said, they would 
never get through. 

It was not long before the emigrants realized that the 
advice was good. Two days later the first accident taught 
them that "a trifling break down or accident to one hinders 
all, and the progress of the whole body was determined by 
the slowest ox." 

When Mr. Cosgrove separated his three fine wagons and 
his active young oxen and horses out on the prairie, the caj>- 
tain of the company said, ''That settles it ; if Cosgrove won't 
stay by me, there is no use trying to keep the company 
together." 

Fuel was scarce on the plains, and it came to be the 
regular thing to gather buffalo chips, morning and evening 
as camp was made, each one in the party taking his sack 
and gathering enough for a fire. One day, as the train 
crested a slope, Mr. Cosgrove, seeing what seemed like 
brown, shaggy tufts thickly studding the distance as far as 
the eye could reach, exclaimed, "We shall have plenty of 
firewood now! No need of gathering chips to-night!" He 
thought he saw brushwood. A girl cried out that they were 
moving. Sure enough — what had been taken for firewood 
proved to be a herd of buffaloes. 

It was not altogether safe to be in the path of such an 
immense herd, and the line was quickly halted, the wagon 
pins drawn and a band of hunters quickly went out on 
horseback to meet the host, and also get buffalo meat. The 
herd divided, leaving the teams clear and the oxen standing 
their ground. One part went off to the hills ; the other took 



•38 OX THE TR,\IL OF THE PIONEERS 

the fords of the Platte, making the "water boil as they 
dashed through. The herd ^vas so vast that at least five 
hours elapsed before the last flying column had gall3ped 
by . . . What a picture — tliirteen families with their oxen 
and wagons, sitting quietly in the midday blaze, while a 
buffalo herd, perhaps one hundred thousand strong, or 
even more, dashed past on either side. 

The buffalo furnished meat until the salmon streams were 
reached. There was always plenty of food. 

On the Umatilla, after crossing the Blue Mountains, the 
emigrants were visited by Doctor Whitman and his wife 
and Dr. and Mrs. Spalding. A cow was traded to Dr. 
\\'hitman for a horse. This was only a few months before 
Dr. Whitman and all at the Wai-i-lat-pu station were killed 
by the Indians. 

At the Columbia river bateaux were waiting, these hav- 
ing been sent from \'ancouver by those who had heard of 
the coming of tlie party. The voyage down the stream was 
quite comfortable. The wagons were taken to pieces and 
loaded on the boats, and the oxen were driven by the old 
trail along the Columbia. 

James ]McKay, one of the company, not being able to hire 
a boat, built a raft. Others went over the mountains. 

A trip of an entirely different kind was tliat made in 
1850 by Henr}' J. Coke and his companions, visitors from 
England who planned to hunt big game on the Oregon 
Trail. -^ After a season in the East, the party reached St. 
Louis. There the journal was begim: 

Mav 28, 1850. I began to think we never sliould get 
away from St. Louis. Fresh obstacles to our departure 
seemed to rise ever}- day. The emigrants are the cause of 
this. Horses, mules, grass, game, are daily becoming 
scarce through them. For one of my horses I have paid 
$125, and for a mule $140. Three years ago I could have 
bought the two for less than half of what I have given for, 
either. I^Ien and guides are equally difficult to procure 



i 



THE OREGON TRAIL 8391 

Pope says : 

Man wants but little here below. 
Nor wants that little long. 

I am inclined to think that had ^Ir. Pope ever made 
preparations for a trip across the Rocky ^lountains, he 
would have made the proviso that this journey was by no 
means to be included in his conception of the ordinary 
seven-stage journey of life. 

. . . W'e have nine mules, eight horses, and two waggons. 
The party consists of my friend Fred. ... a British parson 
and . . . myself, four young Frenchmen of St. Louis, Fils, 
a Canadian voyageur and Fred's valet-de-champs. The ser- 
vants were changed from time to time during the trip. 

The Englishman looked dubiously on the one thousand 
pounds of baggage. "We have in all a little less than 4000 
pounds." he said, "and judging from the size of the 
waggons, I should think they are licensed to carr)- only 
three at the most." 

The outfitting expenses proved to be about Sicxx) each. 
It was hoped that this amount would carr}- them through. 
This proved to be a mistake. ''The want of management, 
the purchase of useless luxuries, and the fact of money 
being comparatively no great object, combined to make our 
expense more than double the usual outlay of emigrants," 
the leader wrote. 

The wagons were loaded at St. Joseph, after a journey 
from St. Louis by steamer. The inexperience of these 
travelers was evident when the guide secured at St. Joseph 
on looking over the equipment after the start, announced 
that he would need to return to town for rope, picket-pins, 
harness, straps, and many other things that had not been 
provided. 

\\'hen the journey was well begun, entries like these were 
made in the authors journal : 

Roads hilly and ven,- bad. Mtiles obstinate. The large 
waggon turns out to be twice the weight it ought to be. and 



240 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

gets fixed in consequence at the first steep hill. Begin to 
lighten load. Send one hundred and fifty pounds of flour 
to Savannah, and sell one hundred pounds lead and one 
hundred pounds sugar to a farmer we met on the road. 
!Must eat literally a load of salt pork before the wagons 
are light enough to travel fast. 

Roads worse than ever. Heavy waggon as usual stuck in 
a rut, and is nearly upset. Discharge cargo, and find it 
hard work to earn,- the hea\y boxes up tlie hill. 

Hind wheel of small wagon breaks to pieces . . . An old 
Yorkshireman, with his flocks and herd and family . . . 
who . . . was now on his way out for the second time . . . 
in five minutes made a wheel far stronger than either of 
the remaining three. 

^^'hile crossing a shaky bridge, two wheels of the large 
waggon were broken. Settlers near by who saw the accident 
lent a large cart to ca.rry the things to the next place where 
wood could be secured. 

One wheel a day is but a moderate average of breakages. 
. . . The mules we have packed with the load of the small 
wagon; all ran away through the thicket after the horses, 
and with the help of the trees, managed to throw the packs 
oflf and tear them to pieces. Have the greatest difliculty to 
catch the animals, and unpack them, and by the time we 
have done so. the teams are too tired to go on. An ox- 
wagon passes, and we borrow the oxen to pull us up a bad 
hill. 

At the mouth of the Platte the men passed about two 
hundred wagons of emigrants. Here they left behind the 
salt pork. It was decided that it had been foolish to bring 
so much chocolate and ginger beer along. 

When near Council BlufTs the leader wrote : 

Hitherto our troubles have been somewhat numerous : we 
have broken down or met with some disaster even,- day. 
Nearly all of our men have turned out to be perfectly use- 
less. The roads have been almost impassable, owing to the 
heavv rains ; and we have more than once taken the longest 
and worst by mistake; but the most serious grievance is 



«l 



THE OREGON TRAIL 241 

that our mules are beginning to be galled. !Many people 
have turned back before they got thus far. I am sure we 
find it sufficiently uninteresting and disagreeable to make 
us follow their example: j-et, nevertheless, we are deter- 
mined if possible to go through, and are fully prepared to 
give up the wagon and all other luxuries rather tlian relin- 
quish the trip. 

The next step in lightening the load was to sell the 
wagon to an Indian agent, as well as forty pounds of 
powder, one hundred poimds of lead, quantities of odds and 
ends, and all the ginger beer. 

At the Elk-Horn river a raft was built of logs, collected 
with difficulty, lashed together with lariats. Three hundred 
pounds' weight could be ferried over on this raft. To take 
the animals across it was necessar\' for tlie men to swim the 
river eight or nine times, taking one horse at a time, or 
driving two or three of flogging and shouting behind them. 

Near Fort Laramie the men were told that a few weeks 
before an emigrant had passed on his way to California, 
with no conveyance but his legs, and no baggage but what 
he wheeled in a barrow ; that he overtook all who traveled 
with horses or oxen, and that as long as his health lasted 
he could walk twenty-five miles a day. 

There were so many differences of opinion in the party 
that Fred and Mr. Coke agreed to separate. 

Our principle of traveling differed in such a variety of 
ways: one thought it necessan,- to start early and stop in 
the middle of the day: the other thought it better to start 
later, and make no halt till dark. One thought it best to 
picket the horses at night: the other was for letting them 
run loose. One insisted upon keeping a watch : the other 
thought it would increase our fatigue without adding to our 
safety. 

Two parties were made up. each led by one of the English- 
men; the horses and provisions were divided. The parson 



242 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

and Mr. Coke went together, taking four mules for packing 
and one each to ride. 

Fred and his party went on, determined to make thirty 
or thirty-five miles a day, while Mr. Coke planned to make 
no more than twenty-five. 

The difficulties proved to be greater than ever, and Mr. 
Coke wished he had traveled alone, with two animals to 
ride and one pack mule. 

Next day a Mormon train overtook the party. One old 
man said, "You chaps don't seem in no hurry anyhow." 
"We had passed each other on the road half a dozen times," 
Mr. Coke wrote. "I suppose no mule train but ours had ever 
been seen more than once by any party of Mormons before." 

Passed nine men on the way from California to the East. 
I put some questions to them, but received very curt an- 
swers. They were a rough-looking set, and were as rude 
in manner as in appearance. All I could learn was that 
they had five mules laden with gold, packed in small square 
leather cases, and that the renowned Kit Carson was acting 
as guide to the party. 

After crossing the Continental divide, provisions became 
scarce, forage for the animals was almost entirely lacking, 
and one by one they began to die. It was hoped to reach 
Fort Hall, though it was feared that it might be necessary 
to make the last bit of the way on foot. Mr. Coke wrote: 

Decided to throw away every superfluous article, and so 
lighten the packs. Left the ground strewn with warnings 
for future emigrants. At least half of baggage left behind. 

August 24. ... As soon as the sun began to be warm 
we halted our animals. Poor beasts! They hunted far 
and wide, but found not a blade of grass, not a drop of 
water. After we had eaten our raw ham the wind died 
away, and the heat became insufferable. The rays from the 
burning sand were hardly less fierce than those which came 
direct from the sun. My pain was increased tenfold by the 
want of water. I crawled to the top of a hill and covered 



THE OREGON TRAIL 243 

my head with a blanket; this protected me from being 
scorched, but nearly suffocated me for want of air. Never 
in the deserts of the east, nor within the tropics in the west, 
have I suffered from heat as I did this day. 

At last Green river was reached, "and men, mules and 
horses rushed on at full gallop nor stopped till they were 
knee-deep in the middle of the welcome stream." 

The lateness of the season led the men to decide to give 
up California and go on to Oregon. So they turned to 
the right soon after entering the valley of Bear river. 

On September 3 passed camp fires still alight. Since 
the emigrants had left them this morning, three bears, a 
mother and her two cubs, had followed them on the road 
for more than a mile. I should think the track of the big 
bear's hind foot was at least ten or twelve inches long. . . . 
In the middle of the day we overtook the emigrant train, 
consisting of six waggons. 

At Fort Hall provisions were sought, but there were 
none to spare. On September 10 Mr. Coke wrote: 

We came up with the emigrant train we had met the 
other side of Fort Hall . . . We stopped and supped with 
them, upon buttermilk and bread. They complained bit- 
terly of the hardships of their life, lamenting their folly in 
leaving comfortable farms in the States for the uncertainty 
of finding better in Oregon. They seemed to think their 
troubles would now come to an end. They had already 
been more than four months on the march, and they had 
yet a long way to go. Their oxen were suffering from the 
stony roads, and the men were tired of their labor. We 
encouraged them as much as we could, and, by comparing 
our case with theirs, proved to them that there were others 
in worse predicaments than they. We told them that, how- 
ever slow they travelled, they had their homes and families 
continually with them. They were all more or less used 
to some hardships, and driving oxen in a waggon was no 
harder work than driving the same oxen in a plough. They 



544 OX THE TR-\IL OF THE PIOXEERS 

had plent}- of provisions: their wives baked them good Ij 
bread, for they carried stoves with them ; they were ai\\-a}-s ■ 
protected from the weather, for if the ground was too wet 
they could sleep perfectly well in their covered waggon; 
whereas die labor of packing mules three or four times a 
day, the impossibility- of sending, as they did. one of the 1 
party in advance to choose a camping ground, and the ■ 
consequent uncertainty- of sustaining the animals : our weak- 
nesvS, if ariacked by Indians: the fatal results that would 
ensue upon the sickness of any one of so small a part}*, the 
want of pro\-isions, and the constant exposure from being 
entirely without tents, were events which, when comlnned, 
were what few emigrants had ever imdergone. 

On September 17 a fatal attempt was made to ford Snake 
river. Mr. Coke was saved with difnculty. The servant 
was drowned. He was a farmer from Ohio, and was going 
on a prospecting trip in the hope of finding a home for his 
w-ife and five children- 
October 3. Yesterday I met with a disaster which dis- 
tresses me exceedingly. I broke my pipe, and am neither 
able to repair nor to replace it. Juhus has one, the fmnes of 
which we are compelled to share. If this should go (,and 
it is already in four pieces, and bound up like a mimimy) I 
tremble to tliink of tiie consequences. 

October 4. I could not sleep for the cold, and yet I 
dreaded the approach of daylight, and the tugging at the 
frozen rope which it entailed. But there was no help for 
it. I might lie in bed tiU the sim was up, but must, in 
consequence, be another night in the mountains: and the 
animals, who suffer more than we do. could not stand this. 
So we tied them close to the still burning log. and. little by 
little, ^^-ith the help of a warm ever\- minute, we got the 
packs on. Poor beasts! they actually cringed when the 
saddle touched the great raws on their backs : the frost had 
made them so painful. \Miat would I have given for a 
mouthful oi hot tea or cotree before staning? But these 
are luxuries we must not think of. It seems as if this sort 
of life were to last forever. 



THE OREGON TKAEL 245 

Oct. 5. Passed an emigrant train of twelve waggons 
and about one hundred and hivy head of cattle. The poor 
people looked half stan^ed. They had been restricted to a 
founh oi their proper ration for more than three wedcs. 
and could not make what remained last over eight or ten 
daj-s. 

If Mr. Coke should arrive at The Dalles, one himdred 
and fort\- miles distant, before them, he promised to send 
provisions to them. 

On October 8 the horse died, and Mr. Coke set out to 
walk the remaining hundred miles. Soon he was cheered 
by sight of the Columbia. "Shall I ever forget that day's 
walk?"' he wrote. "The sand was more than a foot deep. 
For even.' two steps forward, it seemed as if you slipped 
one step back. The sun was hot: I had heavy boots on, 
reaching above my knees. . . . Above all, I was weak from 
exhaustion, having hardly tasted food since yesterday 
morning." 

On October 10 he foimd encamped on the banks of the 
Columbia six wagons full of emigrants who counted on 
getting to The Dalles next day. They were disappointed 
when told it was still a good five days' journey for wagons. 

At last The Dalles were reached. There Mr. Coke re- 
joined Fred, who had separated from him soon after the 
beginning of the journey. The remainder of the trip was 
made on the Columbia. 

That danger and difficulties on tlie Oregon Trail were 
met near the start as well as farther along the way is illus- 
trated by the experience of an unnamed man who told of 
crossing the Missouri at Fort Kearney.-^ 

Went up to the feny*. Mr. H's and ^Irs. S's wagons 
went over safe. Then ^Ir. S's family wagon and five yoke 
of cattle and all of Mr. S's family except two boys went 
on the ierry boat, and when they were about half way 
across the boat began to sink. They tried to drive the 
catde off, but could not in time to save the boat from sink- 



M6 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

ing. My family are still on the east side and I- 



with his teams. We witnessed the scene, and could do 
nothing. Mrs. Sands, the baby and next youngest were all 
under water, but the men of the boat got into the river and 
took them out, and the rest of the family got up on the 
wagon cover and saved themselves from drowning. Mr. 
R jumped overboard and thought he could swim to shore, 
but he was drowned. ... By the assistance of one of the 
other boats the rest were saved, but we thought from where 
we were that it was impossible, that they could all be saved. 
Well, I paid a man fifteen cents for taking my wife and 
little children across in a skiff. They have no skiff at the 
ferry, but they have three good ferry boats that they work 
by hand. But the men here are as near heathen as they 
can be, and they go for shaving the emigrants. 

The figures of emigration along the Trail from 1841 to 
1852 has been carefully compiled. ^^ 

At the close of 1841 there were in Oregon, Americans 400 
The number of emigrants during 1842 was 105 to 137 



1843 


" 


875 to 1,000 


1844 


« 


700 


1845 


« 


3,000 


1846 


<c 


1.350 


1847 


(( 


4,000 to 5,000 


1848 


(C 


700 


1849 


I( 


400 


1850 


« 


2,000 


I85I 


<( 


1,500 


1852 


« 


2,500 



And as a result of this steady inflow of the virile popula- 
tion of the East, Oregon became American territory. Ben- 
ton^* called attention to the fact that the Oregon emigration 
from the United States "was not an act of government lead- 
ing the people and protecting them, but, like all the other 
great emigrations and settlements of that race (Anglo- 
Saxon) on our continent, it was the act of the people, going 
forward without government aid or countenace, establish- 



THE OREGON TRAIL 247 

fng their possession, and compelling the government to fol- 
low with its shield and spread it over them. So far as the 
action of the government was concerned, it operated to 
endanger our title to the Columbia, to prevent emigration, 
and to incur the loss of the country-." 

On August 5, 1846, the Oregon Country became a part of 
the United States, and from that day the emigrants who 
were taking the longest outward bound movement ever 
made by an Arj^an people knew that they were only going 
to another section of their own land. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER VI 
(See Bibliography) 

1. "American History and Its Geographic Conditions," p. 211. 

2. "The American Fur Trader," Quoted in Fremont and '49, p. 81. 

3. Christian Advocate and Journal and Zion's Herald, March 22, 

1833, p. 2. 

4. "Winning the Oregon Country," p. 50. 

5. Ibid., p. 73. 

6. "Oregon : The Struggle for Possession." 

7. "The River of the West," p. 201. 

8. Ibid., p. 209. 

9. "Oregon : The Struggle for Possession," p. 146. 

10. Quoted in "A Lecture on the Oregon Territory," p. 8. 

11. "Travels in the Great Western Prairies," p. 77. 

12. Ibid., p. 78. 

13. "The River of the West," p. 279. 

14. "A Journey to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1839," p. 27, 

15. "Recollections of an Old Pioneer," p. 65. 

16. "A Day with the Cow Column in 1843," p. 379. 

17. "History of Oregon," p. 81. 

18. "Recollections of William M. Case," p. 270. 

19. "The California and Oregon Trail," pp. 9, 14, 46, 71, 94, 107. 

20. "Reminiscences of Hugh Cosgrove," p. 257. 

21. "A Ride Over the Rocky Mountains," p. 81. 

22. "The Oregon Trail," p. 356. 

23. Ibid., p. 370. 

24. Quoted, "Fremont and '49," p. 160. 



I. A TRAGEDY OF THE TRAIL 

"I soon shall ho in 'Frisco, 

And then I'll look around, 
And when I sec the gold lumps there 

I'll pick 'em ofl: the ground. 
I'll scrape the niotnitains clean, my hoys, 

I'll drain (he rivers dry, 
A pocket full of rocks hring home, 

So, hrothers, don't you cry.* 

The overland route to California fcdlovvcd the Orcc^on 
Trail from St, Joseph or Imlcpcndence, along the Platte 
river, to lu>rt Laramie, and, at first, on to a point about one 
hundred miles from Fort Hall, then to the headwaters of 
the Ilimiholdt river. Later the traveler to California 
parted company at Bear river with those who were l)ound 
for Oreg^on. From the Humboldt the route was west to 
the Truckee river, up the stream to Truckee Pass, then 
down the western slope of the mountains to the Bear river 
of California and the Sacramento Valley.^ 

Thomas J. Famham, in 1843, gave these clear directions 
for tliose who wished to go to California: " 

Land on the north side of the mouth of the Platte; follow 
up that stream to the Forks, 400 miles ; in this distance there 
is only one stream where a raft will be needed, and that 
near the Missouri; all the rest are fordable. At the h'orks, 
take the north side of the North one; 14 days travel to the 
Black Hills; thence leaving the river bank, strike off in a 
North West direction to the Sweet-Water trail, at Indepen- 
dence Rock, (a large rock in the plains on which the old 
trappers many years ago carved the word "Tudopendence" 
and their own names; oval in form) ; follow up the Swcet- 

* Stanza of a song popular with the California pioneers. 

251 

/ 



252 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

water 3 days; cross it and go to the head, eight or ten 
days' travel this; then cross over westward to the head 
waters of a small creek running southwardly into the Platte, 
thence westward to Big Sandy creek 2 days, (this creek is 
a large stream coming from Wind river mountain in the 
North) ; thence i day to Little Sandy Creek — thence west- 
ward over 3 or 4 creeks to Green River. Strike it at the 
mouth of Horse creek — follow it down three days to Pilot 
Bute; then a strike westward one day to Hams Fork of 
Green River — 2 days up Ham's Fork ; thence west one day 
to ]\Iuddy Branch of Great Bear River — down it one day to 
Great Bear River ; down this 4 days to Soda Springs ; turn 
to the right up a valley a quarter of a mile below the Soda 
Springs ; follow it up to a North West direction 2 days to its 
head ; then take the left hand valley leading over the dividing 
ridge; i day over to the waters of Snake River at Fort 
Hall; thence down Snake River 20 days to the junction of 
the Lewis and Clark Rivers — or 20 days' travel westwardly 
by the Mary's River; thence through a natural and easy 
passage in the California Mountains to the navigable waters 
of the San Joaquin — a noble stream emptying into the Bay 
of San Francisco. 

, Emigrants began to flock to California over this route 
I almost immediately after the war with Mexico. Among the 
early emigrants the Donner party was notable because of 
the tragic end of the expedition. 

On April 15, 1846, thirty-one men, women and children 
started from Springfield, Illinois, on what they thought 
would be a five months' journey to the Pacific Coast. 
James F. Reed organized the party, but it took its name 
from the Donner brothers, George and Jacob, neighbors of 
the Reeds, because of the tragic fate which befell them on 
the way. 

There were sixteen juvenile members of the expedition, 
including Eliza Donner, who was five years old at the 
time, and Virginia Reed, both of whom later wrote stories 
of the journey that are as absorbing as any of the records 
of pioneer travel in America. 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO CALIFORNIA 253 

Virginia Reed (Muq)hy) has given a picturesque descrip- 
tion of the equipment provided by her father :^ 

Our family wagon . . . v^as Mfhat might be called a two- 
story wagon or "Pioneer palace car," attached to a regular 
immigrant train. My mother, though a young woman, 
was not strong, and had been in delicate health for many 
years, yet when sorrows and dangers came upon her she 
was the bravest of the brave. Grandma Keyes, who was 
seventy-five years of age, was an invalid, confined tO' her 
bed. Her sons in Springfi.eld, Gersham and James W. 
Keyes, tried to dissuade her from the long and fatiguing 
journey, but in vain; she would not be parted from my 
mother, who was her only daughter. So the car in which 
she was to ride was planned to give comfort. The en- 
trance was on the side, like that of an old-fashioned stage 
coach, and one stepped into a small room, as it were, in 
the centre of the wagon. At the right and left were spring 
seats with comfortable high backs, where one could sit and 
ride with as much ease as on the seat of a Concord coach. 
In this little room was placed a tiny sheet-iron stove, whose 
pipe, running through the top of the wagon, was prevented 
by a circle of tin from setting fire to the canvas cover. A 
board about a foot wide extended over the wheels on either 
either side the full length of the wagon, thus forming the 
foundation for a large and roomy second story in which 
were placed our beds. Under the spring seats were com- 
partments in which were stored many articles useful for 
the journey, such as a well filled work basket and a full 
assortment of medicines, with lint and bandages for dress- 
ing wounds. Our clothing was packed — not in Saratoga 
trunks — but in strong canvas bags plainly marked. Some 
of mama's young friends added a looking-glass, hung di- 
rectly opposite the door, in order, as they said, that my 
mother might not forget to keep her good looks, and strange 
to say, when we had to leave this wagon, standing like a 
monument on the Salt Lake desert, the glass was still un- 
broken. I have often thought how pleased the Indians 
must have been when they found this mirror which gave 
them back the picture of their own dusky faces. 



25i ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

We had two wagons loaded witli provisions. Every- 
thing in that Hne was bought that could be thought of. My 
father started with supplies enough to last us through the 
first winter in California, had we made the journey in the 
usual time of six montlis. Knowing that books were al- 
ways scarce in a new country, we also took a good library 
of standard works. W'e even took a cooking stove which 
never had had a fire in it, and was destined never to have, 
as we cached it in the desert. Certainly no family ever 
started across the plains with more provisions or a better 
outfit for the journey; and yet we reached California al- 
most destitute and nearly out of clothing. 

According to Eliza Donner * the equipment provided by 
her father and her uncle was quite different. She saw 
three big. white-covered wagons brought into the yard, 
and watched her parents as they loaded them. In one 
W'agon they placed seed and farming implements for their 
own use in California, as well as laces, muslins, satins and 
velvets which they hoped to trade for land. The second 
wagon held the supplies of food and clothing for the jour- 
ney, as well as the tents and otlier things to be used in 
camp, and the bright-colored garments, beads, necklaces, 
looking-glasses, and so forth, with which unfriendly In- 
dians were to be appeased. The third wagon was to be the 
family home on wheels. Each wagon was to be drawn by 
three yoke of sturdy oxen. Three extra yoke of oxen, five 
saddle horses, beef cattle, and a dog were to follow the 
wagons. 

It was a happy moment for Eliza and her sisters w-hen 
the signal was given to start. They wondered why there 
were tears in their mothers eyes as they left the old home 
and passed the familiar orchards and the fields beyond. 

All went well for weeks. On May 19 the company over- 
took the caravan of which Edwin Bryant was a member, 
and were admitted to it by unanimous vote. The Donners 
made quite an addition to a company that already numbered 
ninety-eight fighting men, fifty women, forty-six wagons, 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO CALIFORNIA 255 

and three hundred and fifty cattle. In fact, the company- 
was so large that it was divided in two parts for con- 
venience in travehng. These divisions were known as the 
Cahfoniia and the Oregon party. 

That day was a festive occasion in canip. ''Our cattle 
were allowed to rest, while the men were hunting and fish- 
ing, the women spread the family washings on the boughs 
and bushes." . . . Eliza wrote.^ "We children, who had been 
confined to the wagOH so many hours each day, stretched 
our limbs, and scampered off on IMayday frolics. We 
waded the creek, made mud pies, and gathered posies in the 
narrow glade between tlie cottonwood, beech and alder 
trees. 

Arrangements were made here for the government of 
the emigrant train, made up of lawyers, journalists, teach- 
ers, students, farmers and day-laborers, a minister, a car- 
riage-maker, a cabinet-maker, a stone-mason, a jeweler, 
and a blacksmith. A captain was chosen by all, and all 
plans of action and rules and regulations were proposed 
at a general meeting, and accepted or rejected by majority 
vote. 

It was the captain's duty to preside at meetings, head 
the train, locate camping grounds, select crossings over 
fordable streams, and direct the construction of rafts and 
other expedients for transportation over deep waters. 

Grandma Keyes had improved during the first weeks of 
the journey, but three days after the Big Blue river was 
reached she died. Her coffin was hewed out of a cotton- 
wood tree and she was buried under an oak tree, a stone 
bearing a crude inscription marking the spot. 

After the funeral the party was ready to proceed, but 
there was delav because the Big Blue was in flood, and 
tliere was no ford. Accordingly, as Virginia Reed wrote, 

the men went to work cutting down trees, hollowing out 
logs and making rafts. . . . These logs, about twenty-five 
feet in length, were united by cross timbers, forming rafts, 



256 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

which were firmly lashed to stakes driven into the bank. 
Ropes were attached to both ends, by which the rafts were 
pulled back and forth across the river. The banks of this 
stream being steep, our heavily laden wagons had to be let 
down carefully with ropes, so that the wheels might run 
into the hollowed logs. This was no easy task when you 
take into consideration that in these wagons were women 
and children, who could cross the rapid river in no other 
way. Finally the dangerous work was accomplished and 
we resumed our journey. 

After the river was safely crossed the journey was con- 
tinued through a pleasant country. "How I enjoyed riding 
my pony, galloping over the plain, gathering wild flowers!" 
was one of Virginia Reed's memories of those days. "At 
night the young folks would gather about the camp fire 
chatting merrily, and often a song would be heard, or some 
clever dancer would give us a barn-door jig on the hind- 
gate of a wagon." 

On June i6 Mrs. George Donner wrote a letter from the 
South Fork of the Nebraska, which was sent back to Illi- 
nois by returning pioneers : 

To-day, at morning, there passed, going to the States, 
seven men from Oregon, who went out last year. . . . They 
met the advance Oregon caravan about 150 miles west of 
Fort Laramie, and counted in all for Oregon and Cali- 
fornia (excepting ours) 478 wagons. There are in our 
company over 40 wagons, making 518 in all; and there 
are said to be yet 20 behind. To-morrow we cross the 
river, and, by reckoning, will be over 200 miles from Fort 
Laramie, where we intend to stop and repair our wagon 
wheels. They are nearly all loose, and I am afraid we 
will have to stop soon if there can be found wood suitable 
to heat our tires. There is no wood here, and our women 
and children are out now getting buffalo chips to burn in 
order to do the cooking. These chips burn well. 

When near Great Salt Lake the emigrant train divided, 
the larger portion deciding to keep to the old road to Cali- 




pONXEK MONl'MENT, DOXNER lAKll, C'AIIIOHNIA 

[(Dedicated June 6, 1918, on tlie sjiot where nianj^ of 
tilt" Donner party perished) 



INSCRII'IION ON- 
ROCK or IIKI.I, KOAId.Nt; 
CANYON, I TAII 





From Bayard Taylor's "El Dorado 



SAN FRANCISCO IX XOVEJIBER, 1848 




From Bayard Tai/lor's "EI Dorado' 



SAN IRAN CISCO IN NOVEMBER, 18 lO 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO CALIFORNIA 257 

fornia, while the Donners, the Reeds and many others, 
eighty-seven in -^11, chose what was known as the Hastings 
Cut-off. This route, which passed along the southern 
shores of the lake, was said to shorten the trip to Califor- 
nia at least three hundred miles before it rejoined the Fort 
Hall Emigrant Road on the Humboldt. The party that 
remained in the old road reached California in good time, 
but the Donner party rode forward to hardship, disaster 
and death. 

A few days showed the travelers that the road was not as 
it had been represented by Lansford W. Hastings, who had 
named the cut-off, and who had promised to guide the 
travelers. Virginia Reed wrote: 



We were seven days in reaching Weber Cafion, and Hast- 
ings, who was guiding a party in advance of our train, left 
a note by the wayside warning us that the road through 
Weber Canon was impassable and advising us to select a 
road over the mountains, the outline of which he attempted 
to give on paper. These directions were so vague that 
C. T. Stanton, William Pike, and my father rode on in 
advance and overtook Hastings and tried to induce him to 
return and guide our party. He refused, but came back 
over a portion of the road, and from a high mountain en- 
deavored to point out the general course. Over this road 
my father traveled alone, taking notes, and blazing trees, 
to assist him in retracing his course, and reaching camp 
after an absence of four days. Learning of the hardships 
of the advance train, the party decided to cross towards 
the lake. Only those who have passed through this coun- 
try on horseback can appreciate the situation. There was 
absolutely no road, not even a trail. The cafion wound 
around among the hills. Heavy underbrush had to be cut 
away and used for making a road bed. While cutting our 
way step by step through the "Hastings Cut-off," we were 
overtaken and joined by the Graves family, consisting of 
W. F. Graves, his wife and eight children, his son-in-law, 
Jay Fosdick, and a young man by the name of John Snyder. 



258 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Then came a desert which Donner had been told was only- 
forty miles wide, and what was thought to be an ample 
supply of water was taken. But the waste proved to be 
twice the expected distance. 

It was a dreary, desolate, alkali waste ; not a living thing 
could be seen ; it seemed as though the hand of death had 
been laid upon the country. We started in the evening, 
traveled all that night, and the following day and night — 
two nights and one day of suffering from thirst and heat 
by day and piercing cold by night. When the third day 
came and we saw the barren waste stretching away ap- 
parently as boundless as when we started, my father deter- 
mined to go ahead in search of water. Before starting he 
instructed the drivers, if the cattle showed signs of giving 
out, to take them from the wagons and follow him. He 
had not been gone long before the oxen began to fall to 
the ground from thirst and exhaustion. They were un- 
hitched at once and driven ahead. My father coming back 
met the drivers with the cattle within ten miles of water 
and instructed them to return as soon as the animals had 
satisfied their thirst. He reached us about daylight. We 
waited all that day in the desert looking for the return of 
our drivers, the other wagons going on out of sight. To- 
wards night the situation became desperate and we had 
only a few drops of water left; another night there meant 
death. We must set out on foot and try to reach some 
of the wagons. Can I ever forget that night in the desert, 
when we walked mile after mile in the darkness, every 
step seeming to be the very last we could take ! Suddenly 
all fatigue was banished by fear; through the night came 
a swift rushing sound of one of the young steers crazed 
by thirst and apparently bent upon our destruction. My 
father, holding his youngest child in his arms, and keeping 
us all close behind him, drew his pistol, but finally the mad- 
dened beast turned and dashed off into the darkness. Drag- 
ging ourselves along about ten miles, we reached the wagon 
of Jacob Donner. The family were all asleep, so we chil- 
dren lay down on the ground. A bitter wind swept over 
the desert, chilling us through and through. We crept 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO CALIFORNIA 259 

closer together, and when we complained of the cold, papa 
placed all five of our dogs around us, and only for the 
warmth of these faithful creatures we should doubtless 
have perished. 

The stampeded cattle were not found, though a week was 
spent in searching for them. All the Reed wagons had to 
be abandoned, except one, which was drawn by oxen sup- 
plied by more fortunate members of the caravan. 

Then came a shortage of provisions, with California still 
hundreds of miles away. The situation was made still 
worse by the coming of an early snow-storm which left 
the hills white and made the crossing of the mountains im- 
possible. At last, however, the party camped within three 
miles of the summit. Virginia Reed wrote : 

That night came the dreaded snow. Around the camp- 
fires under the trees great feathery flakes came whirling 
down. The air was so full of them that one could see ob- 
jects only a few feet away. The Indians knew we were 
doomed, and one of them wrapped his blanket about him, 
and stood all night under a tree. We children slept soundly 
on our cold bed of snow with a soft white mantle falling 
over us so thickly that every few moments my mother 
would have to shake the shawl — our only covering — to keep 
us from being buried alive. In the morning the snow lay 
deep on mountain and valley. With heavy hearts we turned" 
back to a cabin that had been built by the Murphy-Schallen- 
berger party two years before. We built more cabins and 
prepared as best we could for the winter. 

Storm followed storm until the snow was fourteen feet 
deep. Food was exhausted. The frozen bodies of the few 
cattle left were devoured. At last there was nothing left 
to eat but raw hides which, when boiled, became simply a 
pot of glue. Many attempts were made to push across the 
mountains, but all failed, except that made by the "Forlorn 
Hope." Of the ten men and five women in this party eight 
men perished on the way. But at last they reached Sutter's 
Fort. 



S60 OX THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEER:? 

Their famished faces told the story. Cattle were killed 
and men were up all night dr\-ing beef and making tiour 
by hand mills, nearly 200 pounds being made in one night, 
and a party of seven, commanded by Captain Reasen P. 
Tucker, were sent to our relief by Captain Sutter and tlie 
alcalde. Mr. Sinclair. 



The men in the relief party said that they had been com- 
pelled to leave by the way most of their supplies of food; 
these had been cached for the use of those who would leave 
the camp by the lake for the valley. There was only a little 
left. Small quantities of flour were carefully measured 
out, together wnth a little jerked beef, and two small bis- 
cuits for each of the famishing people. 

On Februar}- 22 a part}- of twenty-three, including Vir- 
ginia Reed, started out. She wrote : 

With sorrowful hearts we traveled on. walking through 
the snow in single file. The men wearing snow-shoes broke 
the way. and we followed in tlieir tracks. At night we lay 
down on the snow to sleep, to awake to find our clothing 
all frozen, even to our shoe-strings. At break of day we 
were again on the road, owing to the fact that we could 
make better time over the frozen snow. The sunshine, 
which it would seem would have been welcome, only added 
to our miser}-. The dazzling reflection oi the snow was 
vei^- trying to the eyes, while its heat melted our frozen 
clothing, making it cling to our bodies. My brother was 
too small to step in the tracks made by the men. and in 
order to travel he had to place his knee on tlie little hill 
of snow after each step and climb over. Mother coaxed 
him along, telling him that even.- step he took he was get- 
ting nearer papa and nearer something to eat. He was the 
youngest child that walked over the Sierra Nevada. . . . 
\\lien we reached the place where tb.e cache had been made 
bv hanging the food on a tree, we were horrified to find 
that wild animals had destroyed it. and again starvation 
stared us in the face. But food was brought almost at once 
by another relief party from Sutter's Fort. 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO CALIFORNIA 261 

In the meantime those who remained at Donner Lake 
were suffering torture. George Donner was unable to 
travel because of an accident, and his wife refused to leave 
him. Two of the children had gone with Virginia Reed, 
but Eliza remained with her parents. Later she wrote of 
the failing food supply : 

The last food which I remember seeing in our camp be- 
fore the arrival of the Second Relief was a thin mold of 
tallow which mother had fried out of the trimmings of the 
jerked beef brought by the First Relief. She had let it 
harden in a pan, and after all other rations had given out, 
she cut daily from it three small white squares for each of 
us, and we nibbled off the four corners very slowly and 
then around and around the edges of the precious pieces 
until they became too small for us to hold between our 
fingers. 

A second and a third relief party arrived, and by degrees 
the survivors of the unfortunate party made their weary 
way through the trackless snow over the mountains, into the 
valley of the Sacramento, and on to Sutter's Fort. 

But Eliza's father and mother died by the lake. Forty- 
two of the eighty-three who had been overtaken by winter 
perished. Only eighteen of the thirty-one who had left 
Springfield in the original party reached California. 



ir. ACROSS THE DESERT IN SAFETY 

Not with the bold array 
Of armies dread, came they 

Proud conquest on; 
Through a long warfare rude, 
With patient hardihood, 
By toil and strife and blood, 

The soil was won. 

Won from the Redman's lair, 
To be an Eden fair 

To us and ours; 
Won as the peaceful home 
Of age and beauty's bloom. 
While day shall chase night's gloom, 

While time endures. 

— Lewis C. Cist. 

A LITTLE more than two years after the survivors of the 
Donner party reached Sutter's Fort, on March i8, 1849, 
John Evans Brown started from Asheville, North Carolina, 
for Indianapolis. The diary of the trip ^ is one of the 
valuable documents of the days of the pioneers. 

The entry of April 18 was made at Independence. Then 
the party adopted a constitution and bought eight mules for 
the six men. The total cost of the outfit was $1,120, or 
$186.66 per man. 

Among the entries were: 

May II. The Buncome Co., the Carson Co. and the 
Wilson Co. passed this evening, and we followed them in 
the early morning. 

May 14. We made an early start in a very heavy rain- 
storm, and when out a mile the tongue of my waggon was 
broken through by the stubbomest of the mules, and we 

262 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO CALIFORNIA 263 

were compelled to unhitch and make a new tongue, but 
caught up with the camp at night. Taylor is very ill with 
the cholera. The Kentucky Company joined us. 

May 1 6. We crossed the line of the United States. We 
passed a new made grave of an emigrant. 

. . . By Thursday we passed the Pioneer line, but at 
dinner they passed us. , . . We drove to the forks of the 
road (one goes [left] to Santa Fe and the other [right] to 
Oregon). We camped near an Indian hut which had been 
deserted in consequence of cholera breaking out in emigrant 
camps near by, 

. . . On Saturday the axletree of one of the Kentucky 
waggons broke and we were compelled to stop until noon 
when we drove i mile, crossing a creek, and here we 
stopped, being detained a length of time in assisting each 
waggon up the steep bank. 

Three days later the party drove ten miles to the crossing 
of the Kansas river where all camped in order that the 
whole train might be taken over in one day and so continue 
together. 

The diary continued : 

Robert and Clayton Reeves came into camp after we 
crossed the Kansas. There are but few women traveling. 

On Thursday the 24th, we left camp at 7 o'clock and 
drove 15 miles to Manacursa Creek, where we camped. 
The rain came down in torrents and our tents had 4 inches 
of water running through them. Wood of Buncombe is 
ill with symptoms of Cholera. 

. . . Detained to dig a road. . . . Drove to a creek 
which was very high and we were obliged to build a raft 
to cross. H. A. Wood died of Cholera to-night, after two 
days' illness. 

. . . One of the Kentucky waggons broke down. Five 
of our men were taken ill with cholera and everything 
seems sad; misfortune hangs over us. 

... A Kentucky waggon broke down again, and the 
rain came down in torrents. Ten men are sick with the 
cholera. 



264. ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Three men of the Kentucky Company returned from 
here, because there was so much sickness and because of 
the disagreeable weather. 

Sunday, June lO. We held a meeting of the Company, 
and determined to rest all power and authority in one man. 
A committee of three was appointed to draft regulations 
for the government of the party. 

From a person returning to the States we learned there 
was much suffering in the train ahead of us, mules and oxen 
were giving out on account of the insufficient grass. We 
found three fresh graves of emigrants who died of the 
cholera. 

The Messrs. Reeves again overtook us and camped near. 
They are travelling in an ox train and will reach California 
soon as we if we do not abandon stopping so often. 

. . . Our men, and the men from Rutherford County, 
North Carolina, concluded to leave the train and endeavor 
to travell more expeditiously than we had been doing. 

. . . Eight trains camping in sight of us . . . 

. . . Reached Fort Laramie and we were determined to 
dispose of our heavy waggon and attach six mules to the 
small one, and hasten on our road. We busied ourselves 
in condensing our load and packing in one waggon, and 
finished at three o'clock. All the trunks, part of the Bacon, 
and everything that was not absolutely necessary was 
thrown aside. 



Here there was a difficulty. An officer at Fort Laramie 
claimed the best mule, for it bore the government brand. 
This mule had been bought at Independence in the regular 
way. Later this was given back. The comments made on 
these events by the diarist are interesting. When the mule 
was taken he wrote : 

The protection afforded to emigrants by the chain of 
Military Posts is only another name for robbery. An emi- 
grant can purchase nothing except at an exorbitant price, 
and m the present instance suffers himself to be stript of 
his all, when far away from home. 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO CALIFORNIA 265 

After the animal had been returned he said : 

The Commanding Officer of the Fort conducts himself 
"with much credit. He is a Gentleman in every sense of the 
word, and will be of infinite service to emigrants. 

Another entry : 

Owing to all the trains in the neighborhood of ours 
leaving camp on Sunday, we concluded to drive also, as the 
Indians are on the hill near by, and will take advantage of 
our situation. We drove eight mules to a creek where we 
found a good grass and we put our mules out, as Harris 
and j\lason concluded to return to our Monday's Camp, 
for our only bucket which was left inadvertently, and when 
they returned it was too late for us to drive any distance, 
therefore we rested the ballance of the day at this creek, 
with only one train in sight. 

On Monday we left Camp early, with five Scotchmen, 
who came up last night in a waggon. They had separated 
from their party on account of their slow driving. 

Early Tuesday morning we made ready to leave, when 
we were surprised to see a man ride into camp, and claim 
two horses, which had been brought into our Company the 
night before by a young man of respectable appearance, 
who requested permission to remain. ... It appears that 
a Company from New York had made arrangements to 
pack at the fort and in doing so rather inconvenienced the 
young man and he decided to take two of the horses and 
go ahead. . . . The horses were handed over, and the 
young man returned in captivity to the fort. 

On Wednesday I awoke and rose early from my bed, 
which was nothing more than a buffalo robe stretched on 
the ground with the clear blue sky for covering. We were 
compelled to herd our mules on the hills near by camp, and, 
being apprehensive of the Indians, we concluded to lay 
near the stock. There were six trains in sight of us. 

Saturday, 7th. About five o'clock we reached the Alkali 
Springs. . . . The water tastes like Seidlitz Powder. 

Sundav. The ox teams that have preceded us have lost 
many oxen from the use of this water, and I fear many will 



566 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

not profit by their example. We drove four miles to Wil- 
low Spring:?, where there is plenty of water . . . the many 
dead oxen Mng near the water induced us to continue our 
journey. . . . There is a fine spring- two miles from the 
Willow Spring, but we missed it and drove four miles to 
the foot of a hill, where we struck the small creek, which 
had been trickling doun the swamp to our left for six miles. 
The water is not good. 

. . \\'e ovenook ^Ir. Briddleman of Sulli\-an Count)', 
East Tennessee. . . . Next day I reached a camp of two 
wagons, which I found were from Tennessee. On the i6th 
I met two persons in an Ohio train from Franklin Count)', 
Pennsylvania. Also met a man and lady from \\'illiams- 
port. Pennsylvania. 

19th. Called on Miss Elizabeth \Miite of Pleasant Hill. 
^lar^-land. . . . Her parents are emigrating at an ad- 
vanced age. with her quite young. 

Friday. \Miile we were grassing our stock, se^•e^al 
trains appeared on tlie hills, tvvo miles behind us. which set 
us to work to gearing and just started when Miss White. 
accompanied by a young gallant of the train, rode up and 
informed us that their train was near by. She rode along 
with us, entertaining us ver>' agreeably for three miles, 
when she stopped to wait for the Company. 

Sunday. Dr. Stone devoted the greater part of the eve- 
ning to baking .Apple Pies, which were a ver\' great luxury 
with us. on the plains. Now we can appreciate the fine 
dinners set before us at our homes and must acknowledge 
that we were too choice when so much was to be had. 

. . . The tine grass induced us to believe our mules per- 
fectly safe, without being staked, but we discovered our 
mistake about ten o'clock when we were aroused by run- 
ning of the whole stock and the cries of the guard. -\1I 
immediately gave chase and in about one and a half miles 
one of the Steels and myself succeeded in outrunning them 
and bringing them toward the camp. I had nm the whole 
distance in my stocking feet, without hat. coat or jacket 
and at my fastest, so when I found myself ahead I was 
nearly done out. ... I was so little fit to stand guard in a 
few hours after returning to camp, much less the part of 



ACROSS THE rL.\INS TO CWLIFORXIA 267 

preceding watch, as I was awakened by Ta>lor an hour 
before tlie time, through mist:ike. 

. . . Caniped near die junction of the Fort Hall and 
cut-off roads. . . . The road most cenainly is in a more 
direct course and will also compare with the road via Fort 
Hall, for many miles it is a little southwest in its direction 
and is in fine order, lying- in Cannons where nature has done 
eversthing for a natural road. . . . Taking everAthing to- 
gether the road is excellent and will save to the emigrants 
at least three days' travell with teams. 

Sauirday. August 4. The road is ven*- bad and at one 
hill we were compelled to let the waggon down with rope. 

Sunday being the day of rest, we concluded to remain 
at our Camp untill Monday. The Da\ton Company staned 
at daylight and we had to do the same Monday in order to 
overtake them this week. 

Monday. . . . The waggon belonging to Steel and 
Brothers (who have l>?en travelling with us for a short dis- 
tance this side of Fon Laramie) capsized in crossing a 
deep ravine full of water. The driver drove too far to the 
right and all fell off on Kank. four feet into the water. 
Fortunately nothing was hurt. \\'e travelled up the creek, 
ten miles, passing on the way many ox trains. 

. . . Entering the Cannon, we crossed the creek nine 
times, many of the places being exceedingly difficult. The 
ox train being ven.- slow in crossing detained us till after 
night in reaching the valley, where we found a company 
from Tennessee. 

Sunday. August 12. . . , We were this day invited to 
attend preaching at the camp of the Union Band of Illinois, 
about one mile above us on the Creek. This was an op- 
portunity that we had not met witli lately and we ver)* 
gladly availed ourselves of it. 

Friday. . . . Just as we were starting one of our Com- 
pany took all his baggage out of the waggon, with the de- 
termination oi leaving us. Xotliing was said to induce liim 
to remain, as he was a ver)- disagreeable man, though we 
lost much by suffering him to leave us after coming so far. 
. . . Not a day for tlie last two months but he was quarrel- 



268 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

ing with some one of the company. None of us bid him 
good-bye. . . . 

. . . The Indians are very troublesome, having stole 
many cattle from trains last here. Eight Indians have been 
killed by the Whites in the last fortnight, and I much fear 
they will become more troublesome than ever, 

. . . The mules were very much j added to-day, caused, 
I think, by eating bullrushes. . . . Our mules are much 
better, but the horses of the Messrs. Steele are still af- 
fected, so much so that it is with difficulty they travel. 
Owing to these horses being so jadded we did not start 
from noon time untill three o'clock and then drove twelve 
miles to good grass. The Messrs. Steele did not reach our 
camp that evening, therefore we were alone, and will not 
have them with us on the end of our journey. We all 
regretted leaving them, as they were careful and steady men, 
and agreed with us in our travelling better than any we 
have met on the road, but we could not think of losing 
time in waiting for the horses to recruit. 

Sunday. This Evening much resembled the quiet Sun- 
day Evening that we were accustomed to have at home with 
our friends. We often think of home and the many friends 
we have left, but at no time does the feeling make such an 
impression on one's mind as on a beautiful Sabbath Eve- 
ning, when the same stillness prevails over ever\'thing. We 
often wish ourselves at home and with the permission of 
Providence we will gratify that wish at no very distant 
day, at least so soon as we can in a measure fill our pockets 
with the "Dust." 

Bayard Taylor longed to experience for himself the trials 
of those who crossed the plains to California, but he was 
compelled to choose the route by way of the Isthmus of 
Panama. However, when he reached California he took 
ever}' opportunity to talk with the hardy men who had made 
their way by land. And when he wrote the account of his 
own ti-ip,'^ he told enthusiastically of some of the incidents 
of which he had learned : 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO CALIFORNIA 269 

Sacramento City was the goal of the emigration by tlie 
northern route. From the beginning of August to the last 
of December scarcely a day passed without the arrival 
of some man or company of men and families, from the 
mountains, to pitch their tents for a few days on the bank 
of the river and rest from their months of hardship. The 
vicissitudes through which these people had passed, the 
perils they had encountered and the toils they had endured 
seem to me without precedent in History. The story of 
thirty thousand souls, accomplishing a journey of more 
than two thousand miles through a savage and but partially 
explored wilderness, crossing on their way two mountain 
chasms equal to the Alps in height and asperity, besides 
broad tracts of burning desert, and plains of nearly equal 
desolation, where a few . . . stunted shrubs and springs of 
brackish water were their only stay, has in it so much of 
heroism, of daring and of sublime endurance that we may 
vainly question the records of any age for its equal. Stand- 
ing as I was at the closing stage of that grand pilgrimage, 
the sight of these adventurers as they came in day by day, 
and the hearing of their stories, each of which had its own 
peculiar and separate character, had a more fascinating, 
because more real interest than the tales of the glorious 
old travelers which so impress us in childhood. . . . 

It is estimated that about four thousand persons perished 
from cholera. IMen were seized without warning with the 
most violent symptoms, and instances occurred in which 
the sufferer was left to die alone by the roadside, while his 
panic-stricken companions pushed for^vard, vainly trusting 
to get beyond the influence of the epidemic. Rough boards 
were placed at the graves of those who were buried near 
the trail, but there are hundreds of others lying unmarked 
by any memorial, on the bleak surface of the open plain 
and among the barren depths of the mountains. 



The cholera reached St. Louis from New Orleans about 
the time of the departure from Independence, and overtook 
them before they were fairly embarked on the wilderness. 
By the time the companies reached Fort Laramie the 



270 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

epidemic had expended its violence. But here began new 
trials. 

Up and down the mountains that hem in the Sweetwater 
Valley over the . . . Wind River chain — through the 
Devil's Gate, and past the stupendous mass of Rock Inde- 
pendence — they toiled slowly to the South Pass, descended 
to the tributaries of the Colorado and plunged into the 
rugged defiles of the Timpanozu ^lountains. Here the 
pasturage became scarce and the companies were obliged to 
take separate trails in order to find sufficient grass for their 
teams. Many who, in their anxiety to get forward with 
speed, had thrown away a great part of the supplies that 
encumbered them now began to want, and were frequently 
reduced, in their necessity, to make use of their mules and 
horses for food. . . . 

The progress of the emigrants along the Valley of Hum- 
boldt's River is described as having been slow and toilsome 
in the extreme. The River, which lies entirely within the 
Great Basin — whose waters like those of the uplands of 
Central Asia have no connexion with the sea — shrinks away 
towards the end of summer, and finally loses itself in the 
sand, at a place called the Sink. Here the single trail 
across the Basin divides into three branches, and the emi- 
grants, leaving the scanty meadows about the Sink, have 
before them an arid desert, varying from fifty to eighty 
miles in breadth, according to the route which they take. 
Many companies, arriving at this place, were obliged to 
stop and recruit their exhausted animals, though exposed 
to the danger of being detained there for the whole winter, 
from the fall of snow on the Sierra Nevada. 

Then came the Sierra Nevada, many of whose passes 
had never been crossed before 1849. 

In getting down from the summit . . . emigrants told 
me they were frequently obliged to take . . . the wagon and 
lower it with rope ; but for the slow descents which followed 
another plan was adopted. The wheels were all locked, and 
only one yoke of oxen was left in front; a middling sized 



ACROSS THE PLAINS TO CALIFORNIA 271 

pine was then cut down, and the butt fastened to the axle- 
tree, the branching top dragging in the earth. The holding 
back of the oxen, the sliding of the locked wheels, and the 
resistance of the tree together formed an opposing power 
sufficient to admit of a slow descent; but it was necessary to 
observe great care lest the pace should be quickened, for the 
slightest start would have overcome the resistance and 
given oxen, wagon and tree together a momentum that 
would have landed them at the bottom in a very different 
condition. 

By 1852 there were 250,000 men in California. Thou- 
sands of them had braved the perils of the overland journey, 
and so were hardened for the strain of pioneer life in the 
Golden West. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER VII 
(See Bibliography) 



"American History and Its Geographic Conditions," p. 218. 

"Travels in the Great Western Prairies," p. 23. 

"Across the Plains in the Donner Party," p. 409. 

"Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate," p. $. 

Ditto, p. 12. 

"Journey Across the Plains to the Pacific," p. 130. 

"El Dorado," Vol. I, p. 35- 



I. WITH LEWIS AND CLARK 

Room ! Room to turn round in, to breathe and be free. 
And to grow to be giant, to sail as at sea. 
With the speed of the wind on a steed with his mane 
To the wind, without pathway or route or a rein. 
Room! Room to be free. . . . 

— Joaquin Miller. 

While early explorers, adventurers and trappers made 
use of the Missouri river, the real beginning of trans- 
portation on this waterway was not until 1803, when the 
acquisition of Louisiana led President Jefferson to plan an 
exploring expedition up the Missouri river and on to the 
Pacific Coast. 

Of this expedition Captain Meriwether Lewis and Cap- 
tain W^illiam Clark were asked to take charge. These 
officers of the United States Army made their start from 
the mouth of the Missouri on May 14, 1804. 

In addition to the leaders, there were in the party nine 
young men from Kentucky, fourteen soldiers of the United 
States Army, who had volunteered for the service, two 
French watermen, an interpreter and hunter, and a negro 
servant belonging to Captain Clark. In addition to these, 
a corporal and six soldiers, and nine watermen were engaged 
for service as far as the Mandan nation. 

The equipment consisted of three boats, a keel boat fifty- 
five feet long, drawing three feet of water, and carrying 
one large square sail and twenty-two oarsj and two "pe- 
riogues," * or open boats, one of six and the other of 

*The pirogue is described as "a boat whose hull was two long 
canoes six feet apart, fastened together, and covered with rough 
flooring." 

276 



276 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

seven oars. Two horses were led along the banks of the 
river for the purpose of bringing home game, or hunting in 
case of scarcity. 

From the Journal ^ kept by the explorers, as edited by 
Nicholas Biddle, extracts follow: 

May 2,2. . . . Good Man's river. A small number of 
emigrants from the United States have settled on the banks 
of this creek. 

May 24. Early this morning we ascended a very diffi- 
cult rapid, called the Devil's Race ground, where the cur- 
rent sets for half a mile against some projecting rocks on 
the south side. We were less fortunate in attempting a 
second rapid of equal difficulty. Passing near the southern 
shore, the bank fell in so fast as to oblige us to cross the 
river instantly between the northern side and a sand-bar, 
•which is actually moving and backing with the violence 
of the current. The boat struck on it, and would have upn 
set immediately if the man had not jumped into the water 
and held her until the sand washed from under her. 

June 5. ... At eleven o'clock we met a raft made of 
two canoes joined together, in which two French traders 
were descending from eighty leagues up the Kansas river, 
where they had wintered and caught great quantities of 
beaver. . . . 

June 8. . . We met with a party of three hunters from 
the Sioux river; they had been out for twelve months, and 
collected about $900 worth of peltries and furs. 

June 12. . . Met two rafts loaded, the one with furs, the 
other with the tallow of buffalo ; they were from the Sioux 
nation, and on their way to St. Louis; but we were for- 
tunate enough to engage one of the men. . . . 

June 15. The river being very high, the sand-bars were 
so rolling and numerous and the current was so strong that 
we were unable to stem it, even with oars added to our 
sails. This obliged us to go nearer the banks, which were 
falling in so that we could not make, though the boat was 
occasionally towed, more than 14 miles. 

June 16. Early this morning we joined the camp of our 
hunters, who had provided two deer and two bear. . . . 



1 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 277 

July 3. A gentle breeze from the south carried us ii>^ 
miles this day. 

The morning of the 4th of July was announced by the 
discharge of our gun. . . . Reached a creek. ... To this 
creek, which had no name, we gave that of 4th of July 
creek. . . . After 15 miles' sail we came to on the north a 
little above a creek . . . which we called Independence 
creek, in honor of the day, which we could celebrate only 
by an evening gun, and an additional gill of whisky to the 
men. 

July 7. The rapidity of the water obliged us to draw 
the boat along with rope. . . . 

July 14. We had some hard showers of rain before 
seven o'clock, when we set out. We had just reached the 
end of the sand-island, and seen the opposite bank falling 
in and so lined with timber that we could not approach it 
without danger, when a sudden squall from the northeast 
struck the boat on the starboard quarter, and would cer- 
tainly have dashed her to pieces on the sand island if the 
party had not leaped into the river and with the aid of the 
anchor and cable kept her off. The waves dashed over her 
for the space of 40 minutes, after which the river became 
almost instantaneously calm and smooth. The two perio- 
gues were ahead, in a situation nearly similar, but for- 
tunately no danger was done to the boats or the loading. 

July 20. . . . For a month past the party have been 
troubled with boils, and occasionally with the dysentery. 
These were large tumors, which broke out under the arms, 
on the legs, and generally in the parts some exposed to ac- 
tion, which sometimes became too painful to allow the men 
to work. After remaining some days, they disappeared 
without any correction, except a poultice of the bark of the 
elm, or Indian meal. This disorder, which we ascribe to 
the muddiness of the river water, has not affected the gen- 
eral health of the party. 

July 21. We reached, in the rain, the mouth of the 
great river Platte. 

July 22-26. . . . We stayed here several days, during 
which we dried our provisions, made new oars, and pre- 
pared our dispatches and maps of the country we had 



278 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

passed for the President of the United States, to whom we 
intend to send this by a periogue from this place. 

August 5. We set out early, and by means of our oars 
made 20^ miles, though the river was crowded with sand- 
bars. ... In the evening Captain Clark, in pursuing some 
game in an eastern direction, found himself at the distance 
of 370 yards from the camp at a point of the river whence 
we had come twelve miles. 

August 12. . . . We stopped to take a meridian altitude, 
and sent a man across to our place of observation yester- 
day. He stepped 974 yards, and the distance we had come 
round was 18^ miles. 

August 20. . . . Here we had the misfortune to lose one 
of our sergeants, Charles Floyd. . . . He was buried on the 
top of the bluff with the honor due to a brave soldier ; the 
place of his interment was marked by a cedar post. About 
a mile beyond this place, to which we gave his name, is a 
small river . . . which we called Floyd's river.* 

September 11. ... In the morning we observed a man 
riding on horseback toward the boat, and we were much 
pleased to find that it was George Shannon, one of our 
party, for whose safety we have been very uneasy. Our 
two horses having strayed from us on the 28th of August, 
he was sent to search for them. After he had found them 
he attempted to rejoin us; but seeing some other tracks, 
which must have been those of Indians, and which he mis- 
took for our own, he concluded that we were ahead, and 
had been for 16 days following the bank of the river above 
us. During the first five days he exhausted his bullets, and 
was then nearly starved, being obliged to subsist for twelve 
days on a few grapes, and a rabbit, which he killed by 
making use of a hard piece of stick for a ball. One of his 
horses gave out and was left behind; the other he kept as 
a last resource for food. Despairing of overtaking us, he 
was returning down the river, in hopes of meeting some 

♦The character of Captain Clark's original text may be judged 
from the original entry as to Sergeant Floyd. "Sergeant Floyd is 
taken verry bad all at once with a Biliose Chorlick we attempt to 
reliev him without success as yet, he gets worse and we are much 
allarmed about his situation." 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 279 

other boat ; and was on the point of killing his horse, when 
he was so fortunate as to join us. 

September 12. . , . We with great difficulty were en- 
abled to struggle through the sand-bars, the water being 
very rapid and shallow, so that we were several hours in 
making a mile. Several times the boat whirled on a bar, 
when the men were obliged to jump out and prevent her 
from upsetting ; at others, after making a way up one chan- 
nel, the shoalness of the water forced us back to seek the 
deep channel. We advanced only four miles in the whole 
day. 

September 14. . . . The sand-bars are very numerous, 
and render the river wide and shallow; this obliged the 
crew to get into the water and drag the boat over the bars 
several times. 

September 21. Between one and two o'clock the ser- 
geant on guard alarmed us by crying that the sand-bar on 
which we lay was sinking. We jumped up and found that 
both above and below our camp the sand was undermined 
and falling in very fast. We had scarcely got into the 
boats and pushed off, when the bank under which they had 
been lying fell in, and would certainly have sunk the two 
periogues if they had remained there. By the time we 
reached the opposite shore the ground of our camp sunk 
also. . . o A man, whom we had dispatched to step off the 
distance across the bend, made it 2000 yards; the circuit is 
30 miles. 

September 23. In the evening three boys of the Sioux 
nation swam across the river and informed us that two 
parties of Sioux were camped on the next river; one con- 
sisting of 80 and the second of 60 lodges, at some distance 
above. After treating them kindly we sent them back with 
a present of two carrots of tobacco to their chief, whom we 
invited to a conference in the morning. 

Friday, September 28. ... It was with great difficulty 
we could make the chiefs leave the boat. At length we got 
rid of all except the great chief ; when, just as we were 
setting out, several of the chief's soldiers sat on the rope 
which held the boat to the shore. Irritated at this, we got 
everything ready to fire on them if they persisted; but the 



280 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

great chief said that they were his soldiers, and only 
wanted some tobacco. We had already refused a flag and 
some tobacco to the second chief, who had demanded them 
with great importunity, but, willing to leave them without 
going to extremities, we threw over a carrot of tobacco, 
saying to him, "You told us that you are a great man, and 
have influence ; now show your influence by taking the rope 
from those men, and we will then go without any further 
trouble." This appeal to his pride had the desired effect; 
he went out of the boat, gave his soldiers the tobacco, and, 
pulling the rope out of their hands, delivered it on board. 

October 3. . . . The ascent soon became so obstructed 
by sand-bars and shoal water that, after attempting in vain 
several channels, we determined to rest for the night. 

October 4. On examination we found that there was 
no outlet practicable for us in this channel, and that we 
must retrace our steps. We therefore returned three miles 
and then attempted another channel in which we were more 
fortunate. 

On October 2y, 1804, the party paused for the winter 
among the Mandans. Cabins and later Fort Mandan were 
built. On April 7, 1805, thirty-two men left Fort Mandan 
in canoes. On April 12 they were at the Little Missouri, 
1,693 niiles from the mouth of the Missouri. 

On April 20 one of the canoes was all but lost by the 
falling in of a large part of the bank. "The wind here so 
strong that we could scarcely make a mile an hour, and 
the sudden squalls so dangerous to the small boats that 
we stopped for the night . . . not being able to advance 
more tran 6^ miles. 

On April 26 the party reached the mouth of the Yellow- 
stone river. 

[On May 14th, toward evening,] the men in the hindmost 
canoes discovered a large brown bear lying in the open 
grounds, about 300 paces from the river. Six of them, all 
good hunters, immediately went to attack him, and conceal- 
ing themselves by a small eminence, came unperceived 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 281 

within 40 paces of him. Four of the hunters now fired, 
and each lodged a ball in his body, two of them directly 
through his lungs. The furious animal sprang up and ran 
open-mouthed upon them, as he came near, the two hunters 
who had reserved their fire gave him two wounds, one of 
which, breaking his shoulder, retarded his motion for a 
moment, but before they could reload he was so near that 
they were obliged to run to the river, and before they 
reached it he had almost overtaken them. Two jumped into 
the canoe; the other four separated and, concealing them- 
selves in the willows, fired as fast as each could reload. 
They struck him several times; but instead of weakening 
the monster each shot seemed only to direct him toward 
the hunters, till at last he pursued two of them so closely 
that they threw aside their guns and pouches, and jumped 
down a perpendicular bank of 20 feet into the river. Tl;ie 
bear sprang after them and was within a few feet of the 
hindmost, when one of the hunters on shore shot him in 
the head and finally killed him. . . . 

An accident of a different nature on the same day was 
described : 

This was the narrow escape of one of our canoes, con- 
taining ail our papers, instruments, medicine, and almost 
every articlie indispensable for the success of our enterprise. 
The canoe being under sail, a sudden squall of wind struck 
her obliquely and turned her considerably. The man at 
the helm, who was unluckily the worst steersman of the 
party, became alarmed and instead of putting her before 
the wind luffed her up into it. The wind was so high that 
it forced the brace of the square-sail out of the hand of the 
man who was attending to it and instantly upset the canoe, 
which would have been turned bottom upward but for the 
resistance made by the awning. Such was the confusion on 
board, and the waves ran so high, that it was half a minute 
before she righted, and then was nearly full of water; but 
by bailing out she was kept from sinking until they rowed 
ashore. Besides the loss of the lives of three men, who 
not being able to swim would probably have perished, we 
should have been deprived of nearly everything necessary 



282 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

for our purpose, at a distance of between 2,000 and 3,000 
miles from any place where we could supply the deficiency. 

May 25. Two canoes which were left behind yesterday, 
to bring on the game, did not join us till eight o'clock this 
morning when we set out with the tow line, the use of 
which the banks permitted. 

May 2y. . . . Were obliged to use the tow-line during 
the greater part of the day. The river has become very 
rapid, with a very perceptible descent. 

May 29. Last night we were alarmed by a new enemy. 
A buffalo swam over from the opposite side to the spot 
where lay one of our canoes, over which he clambered to 
the shore; then taking fright he ran full speed up the bank 
toward our fires, and passed within 18 inches of the heads 
of some of the men, before the sentinel could make him 
change his course. 

Until August 18 the party continued on to the extreme 
source of the Missouri. Fifteen months had elapsed since 
the trip was begun ; of this time five months were spent in 
winter quarters. During the twelve months of toiling up 
the river they had covered a little more than the 3000 miles 
from its mouth, near St. Louis. From there the exploring 
party went by land across the Continental Divide, seeking 
the waters that led to the Pacific. 



II. BY MEANS OF CORDELLE AND BRIDLE 

All night above their rocky bed 
They saw the stars march slow; 

The wild Sierra overhead, 
The desert's death below. 

The Indian from his lodge of bark. 

The gray bear from his den, 
Beyond their camp-fire's wall of dark. 

Glared en the mountain men. 

They set their faces to the blast, 

They trod the eternal snow. 
And faint, worn, bleeding, hailed at last, 

The promised land below. 

—John G. Whittier. 

The next historic trip on the Missouri river after the 
days of Lewis and Clark was made in the spring of 1811, 
when H. M. Brackenridge accompanied Manuel Lisa, agent 
of the Missouri Fur Company, on a trip up the river in the 
company's interest. 

The voyage was made in the keel boat, the representative 
river craft of ante-steamboat days.^ 

It was in this boat that the merchandise for the trade 
was transported to the upper river, and it was used on all 
important military and exploring expeditions. It was a 
good sized boat, sixty to seventy feet long, and built on a 
regular model, with a keel running from bow to stern. It 
had fifteen to eighteen feet breadth of beam and there was 
a four foot depth of hold. Its ordinary draft was from 
twenty to thirty inches. It was built in accordance with 
the practice of approved shipcraft, and was a good, stanch 
vessel. Keelboats were generally built in Pittsburgh, at a 
cost of two to three thousand dollars. 

283 



284 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

For carrying freight the keelboat was fitted with what 
was called a cargo box, which occupied the entire body of 
the boat excepting about twelve feet at each end. It rose 
some four or five feet above the deck. Along each side of 
the cargo box was a narrow walk about" fifteen inches wide, 
called the passe az'ant. On special occasions when these 
boats were used for passenger traffic, as on expeditions of 
discovery or exploration, they were fitted up with cabins 
and made very comfortable passenger boats. 

For purposes of propulsion the boat was equipped with 
nearly all the power appliances known to navigation except 
steam. The cordelle was the main reliance. This consisted 
of a line nearly a thousand feet long, fastened to the top of 
a mast, which rose from the center of the boat to a height 
of about thirty feet. The boat was pulled along with this 
line by men on shore. In order to hold the boat from swing- 
ing around the mast, the line was connected with the bow 
by means of a "bridle," a short auxiliary line fastened to a 
loop in the bow and to a ring through which the cordelle 
passed. The bridle prevented the boat from swinging under 
the force of the wind or current when the speed was not 
great enough to accomplish this purpose by means of the 
rudder. The object in having so long a line was to lessen 
the tendency to draw the boat toward the shore; and the 
object in having it fastened to the top of the mast was to 
keep it from dragging, and to enable it to clear the brush 
along the bank. 

It took from twenty to forty men to cordelle the keel- 
boat along average stretches of the river, and the work 
was always one of great difficulty. There was no estab- 
lished towpath and the changing conditions of the river 
prevented the development of such a path except along a 
few stable stretches. It was frequently necessary to send 
men ahead to clear the most troublesome obstructions away. 
In some places, where it was impossible to walk and work 
at the same time, a few men would carry the end of the 
line beyond the obstruction, and make it fast, while the 
rest would get on board and pull the boat by drawing in 
the line. This operation was called "warping." 



TOILING UP THE IVOSSOURI 285 

In places where the keel boat could not be moved by- 
means of the rope, eight or ten men on each side would 
pole it along. The pole was described thus : "On one end 
was a ball or knob to rest in the hollow of the shoulder for 
the voyageur to push against, and on the other was a wooden 
shoe or socket." The ball was placed against the shoulder, 
while the pole was inclined down stream, and the pole 
bearers would walk along the passe (want already described. 
When the men had walked as far as they could, the pole was 
withdrawn, and the men walked toward the bow, that they 
might be ready for another push. 

Other means of navigation were the oar and the sail. By 
means of pole and cordelle, oar and sail, some remarkable 
speed records were attained, as will be seen from Bracken- 
ridge's narrative. 

The start of Manuel Lisa and Brackenridge was made 
from St. Charles, Missouri, on April 2, 181 1, twenty-three 
days after the departure of the party of another agent of 
the Missouri Fur Company, named Hunt, who was ac- 
companied by a naturalist named Bradbury. It was the 
purpose of Lisa to overtake the Hunt party before he 
reached the Sioux Country, for he felt that the safety of 
his party depended on the junction with the larger advance 
party. 

The story of the trip ^ is one of the earliest records of 
Missouri river travel. Mr. Brackenridge wrote : 

Our barge was the best that had ever ascended the river, 
and manned with twenty stout oars-men. As Mr. Lisa had 
been a sea-captain, he took much pains in rigging his boat 
with a good mast, and main and topsail ; these being great 
helps in the navigation of this river. Our equipage is 
chiefly composed of young men, though several have al- 
ready made a voyage to the upper Missouri, of which they 
are exceedingly proud, and on that account they claim a 
kind of precedence over the rest of the crew. We are, in 
all, twenty-five men, well armed, and completely prepared 
for defence. There is, besides, a swivel on the bow of the 



286 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

boat which, in case of attack, would make a formidable 
appearance; we have also two brass blunderbusses in the 
cabin, . . . These preparations were absolutely necessary 
from the hostility of the Sioux bands. . . . The greater 
part of the merchandise, which consisted of strouding, 
blankets, lead, tobacco, knives, guns, beads, &c., was con- 
cealed in a false cabin. . . . 

We had on board a Frenchman named Charbonet, with 
his wife, an Indian woman of the Snake nation, both of 
whom had accompanied Lewis and Clark to the Pacific. . . . 

Thursday 4th. Last night we were completely drenched 
by the rain; the whole party, the bark itself, in a bad con- 
dition this morning. . . . Several deer seen. I observed on 
the sand-bars a kind of scaffold, ten or fifteen feet in height, 
which I was informed was erected by the neighboring 
settlers for the purpose of shooting the deer by moon 
light, which usually come out of the thickets at this time, 
to avoid the musketoes, and to sport on the smooth beach : 
the hunter ascend the scaffold and remains till the deer 
approaches. 

Friday 5th. A violent storm of rain, wind and thunder 
compelled us to put to shore. . . . The number of trees 
which had lately fallen into the river, and the danger to be 
apprehended from others, rendered our situation exceed- 
ingly disagreeable. Towards evening a canoe with six or 
seven men passed. . . . 

Saturday 6th. . . . Near Boon's settlement. About sixty 
miles from St. Charles. 

Sunday 7th. Made Point Labadie. . . . Forty years ago 
this was thought a distant point on the Missouri, at present 
there are tolerable plantations everywhere through the bot- 
tom. The carcases of several drowned buffaloes passed by 
us; it is said that an unusual number of them has been 
drowned this year. Some have been seen floating on the river 
at St. Louis. A gentleman, lately descended, declares that 
he counted forty on the head of an island. . . . Passed be- 
tween an island and the main shore; a very narrow chan- 
nel, but the current and distance less. A channel of this 
sort is often taken in preference, and it is one of the means 
of facilitating the ascending of this uncommonly rapid 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 287 

river: but there is sometimes darxger of the upper end be- 
ing closed with logs and billets of wood matted together, 
as it turned out in the present instance; fortunately after 
the labor of an hour we were able to remove the obstacles. 
. . . Having made about fourteen miles, we put to shore, 
after passing a very difficult emharras ... at the distance 
of every mile or two, and frequently at less distant intervals, 
there are embarras, or rafts, formed by the collection of 
trees closely matted, and extending from twenty to thirty 
yards. The current vexed by these interruptions rushes 
around them with great violence and force. . . . When the 
oars and grapling hooks were found insufficient, the towing 
line was usually resorted to with success. . . . When the 
bank has not been washed steep, which is most usually the 
case, and the ground newly fonned, the young trees . . . 
which overhang the stream, afford much assistance in 
pulling the boat along with the hands. 

Monday 8th. . . . Came in sight of a little village called 
Charette. There are about thirty families here, who hunt, 
and raise a little com. . . . 

We have been accompanied for these two days past by a 
man and two lads, ascending in a canoe. This evening they 
encamped close by us; placing the canoe under shelter of 
our boat. Unsheltered, except by the trees on the bend, 
and a ragged quilt drawn up over a couple of forks, they 
abode the pelting of the pitiless storm with apparent in- 
difference. These people were well dressed in handsome 
home-made cotton clothes. The man seemed to possess no 
small share of pride and self-importance, which, as I after- 
wards discovered, arose from his being a captain of militia. 
. . . When we were about to sit down to supper, he retired, 
but returned when it was over; when asked why he had 
not staid to do us the honor of supping with us: "I thank 
you, gentlemen," said he, licking his lips with satisfaction, 
"I have just been eating an excellent supper." He had 
scarcely spoken, when the patron (the fresh water sailing 
master) came to inform Mr. Lisa, they were begging him 
for a biscuit, a.** they had eaten nothing for two days! Our 
visitant was somewhat disconcerted, but passed it off with, 
"Poh! I'm sure they can't be suffering!" 



288 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

He resides on the Gasconade ; was the second family 
which settled in that quarter, about three years ago. He 
has at present about 250 men on his muster-roll. We were 
entertained by him with a long story of his having pursued 
some Pottawatomies, who had committed robberies on the 
settlement some time last summer ; he made a narrow escape, 
the Indians having attacked the party in the night time, and 
killed four of his men, after a desperate resistance. The 
captain had on board a barrel of whiskey to set up tavern 
with, a bag of cotton for his wife to spin, and a couple of 
kittens. 

Thursday nth. . . . Stopped a few moments at the 
cabin of a Frenchman, who is beginning to open a planta- 
tion. . . . Proceeded by land, across a forest, about two 
miles to the village of Cote sans Dessein ... a beautiful 
place . . . will in time become a considerable village. Has 
been established about three years ; there are thirteen French 
families, and two or three of Indians. . . . From their 
eager inquiries after merchandise, I perceived we are al- 
ready remote from the settlements. 

Saturday 13th. . . . Made in the course of this day about 
twenty-eight miles, for which we are indebted to the favor- 
able wind. Some of us considered this good fortune, a re- 
ward for the charity which was manifested by us yesterday 
in spending an hour to relieve a poor ox, which was 
swamped near the bank. The poor creature had remained 
here ten or twelve days, and the sand into which he had 
sunk, was become hard and solid. The wolves had paid 
him friendly visits from time to time, to inquire after his 
health, while buzzards, crows, and eagles tendered their 
salutations from the boughs of the neighboring trees. 

Sunday 14th. . . . There is a flourishing settlement here 
[on the Missouri River] ... Is but one year old ... it 
consists of seventy-five families, the greater part living on 
the bank of the river, in the space of four or five miles. . . . 
Most of them have slaves. . . . We inquired for the party 
of which we were in chase — they had passed nitteteen days 
before us. 

Monday 1 5th. While the men were towing, they chased 
a she-bear into a hollow tree; we set about chopping the 




From Schoolrraff's ''Ilisforiral Comlitiotis and rro.-<i)ects 
of the Iiidianx in the United States" 



BUFFALO OX THK I'KAIRIE 




I iiiiti n drin<.'iiii/ hi/ I'dlliii 



INDIANS IILXTINtl TlIK BIKFAIO 




?0m. 



Photofirnph htj the United Statcn Forest Service 



THE LAST OF THE BUFFALO 




Photograph by the United States Forest Service 

"MADAME CUFF AGAIN APPEARED" [Page 289] 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 289 

tree, while several stood with guns presented to the hole at 
which she had entered, about twenty feet up. In a short 
time she put out her head and shoulders, but on receiving 
a volley instantly withdrew. The chopping was renewed; 
Madam Cuff again appeared . . . was killed with a stroke 
of an axe. ... In the hollow sycamore there were found 
three cubs. 

Tuesday i6th. ... As it was resolved to tow, I set out 
with my rifle, expecting to meet the boat at the head of a 
long bend. This is the first excursion I have made into the 
country. I passed through the bottom with great difficulty, 
on account of the rushes, which grow as high as a man's 
head and are matted with vines and briars. 

Wednesday 24th. Attempted a ripple this morning, and 
was driven back five times — we had once got within half 
the boat's length of being through ; the bars and poles were 
insufficient ; ten of our men leaped into the water with the 
cordelle, while the rest exerted ourselves with the pole, and 
thus by perseverance became conquerors. Passed a canoe 
with four men who had wintered up the Kansas, about 
five hundred miles ; they had beaver and other furs. . . . 

Thursday 25th. Came in sight of Fort Osage. ... A 
number of Indians of the Osage nation , . . were scattered 
along the bank . . . some with old buffalo robes thrown 
over their shoulders, others dressed out in the gayest man- 
ner. . . . Thus far we have gained about one hundred 
miles upon the part of Hunt, 

Friday, 26th April. . . . Passed a small encampment of 
hunters. The Missouri is now what the Ohio was once, the 
Paradise of hunters. . . . We have now passed the last 
settlement of whites. This reflection caused us all to think 
seriously of our situation. ... I heaved a sigh while I re- 
flected that I might never see it [my country] or my friends 
again; that my bones might be deposited on some dreary 
spot far from my home, and the haunts of civilized men; 
but this last suggested consolation, there is no spot however 
distant, where I may be buried, but will in time be sur- 
rounded by the habitations of Americans, the place will be 
marked, and approached with respect, as containing the re- 



290 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

mains of one of the first who ventured into these distant 
and sohtary regions! 

Saturday 27th. . . . Met a party of traders in two canoes 
lashed together, which form a kind of raft, heavily laden 
with furs, and skins. . . . They met Hunt's party, five days 
ago. 

Saturday 4th. ... I overheard this evening, with con- 
siderable chagrin, while warming myself at the fire, some 
bitter complaints on the part of the men: they declared 
that it was impossible for them to stand it long, that they 
had never so severe a voyage. . . . Great exertions have 
certainly been made and no moments lost, in advancing our 
voyage, but much of the time we were carried along by the 
wind, when there was no need for any labor on the part 
of the men. The weather is now fine, and their labor 
diversified, when there is no wind, by the pole, the^oars, or 
cordelle which is little more than a promenade along the 
sand bars. I represented these things to them as well as I 
could, and endeavored to quiet their minds. 

Saturday nth. . . . The river Platte is regarded by the 
navigators of the Missouri as a point of as much importance 
as the equinoctial line among mariners. All those who have 
not passed it before were required to be shaved, unless they 
could compromise the matter by a treat. Much merriment 
was indulged in the occasion. From this we enter what is 
called the Upper Missouri. . . . 

Monday 20th. Hailed a trader, descending in a large 
canoe, made of skins of the buffaloes, upwards of twenty 
feet in length. . . . These skin canoes are stretched over 
the red willow, and require to be frequently exposed to the 
sun and dried, as they would otherwise become too heavy 
from the quantity of water absorbed. 

Thursday 23d. . . . Espied a number of persons on a 
sand bar, which we at first supposed to be Indians, but on 
a nearer approach, recognized to be whites. Amongst them 
a Mons. Benit, factor of the Missouri Company, at the 
Mandan village. These men were descending in a small 
boat, with some peltries. He tells us that the Indians are 
ill disposed to the whites, everywhere on the Missouri. 

Friday 24th. A huge buffaloe bull made his appearance 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 291 

on the top of the bluff, standing almost at the edge of the 
precipice, and looked down upon us. It was the first we 
had seen. Long and matted wool hung over his head, and 
crowned his huge shoulders, while his body was smooth, 
as also the tail, except a tuft on the end. It was a striking 
and terrific object. 

Sunday 26th. Discovered a canoe descending with two 
men, who prove to be those sent by us, to Hunt. They bring 
information that he has agreed to wait for us at the Poncas 
village. 

Monday 27th. Arrived at the Poncas village. . . . Hunt 
had not waited for us, according to promise. Saw two men, 
who had probably deserted from him — they informed us, 
that as soon as he heard of our approach, which was quite 
unexpected, he had continued to exert himself to the utmost, 
to get out of our reach. The fact is, there does not exist 
the greatest confidence between the two commanders. Ours 
seems to think that it is the ambition of Hunt to pass the 
Sioux, who may wish to detain him by telling him that their 
trader is coming on with goods for them. While on the 
other hand, Hunt may believe that Lisa intends to pass 
him, and tell the same story. It is therefore determined to 
push our voyage, if possible still more than before. 

Tuesday 28th. . . . Continued under sail the rest of the 
day, and the greater part of the night. . . . 

Wednesday 29th. . . , Discovered an encampment of 
Hunt, and on examination, we discovered . . . that the 
fire was not yet extinguished ; it is therefore but a few days 
since they were here. Continued under sail until 11 at 
night, having in little better than twenty-four hours made 
seventy-five miles. 

Saturday June ist. At daylight heard a number of guns 
fired on the hills below us on the other side of the river. We 
now concluded that all our precaution and labor had been 
in vain. That we should be robbed and killed, or at least 
compelled to return. They soon arrived opposite to us, with 
an American flag, and fired one or two guns. There was 
but one thing to be done, which was to cross over to them at 
once, and meet the worst, every man preparing himself for 
defence. Each rower had his gun by his side. Mr. Lisa 



ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

and myself, besides our knives and rifles, had each on a pair 
of pistols in our belts. On reaching the shore we discovered 
twelve or thirteen Indians on a log. Mr. Lisa and I leaped 
on shore and shook hands with them. We supposed that 
the principal body was concealed behind in the woods, so 
as to be at hand if necessary. Having no interpreter at this 
critical juncture we were fearful of not being understood: 
however, with the aid of signs . . . Mr. Lisa . . . was 
enabled to communicate tolerably well. He told them that 
he was the trader, but that he had been unfortunate, all 
the peltries which he had collected amongst them having 
been burnt, and his young men, who had passed 2 years 
before to go to the head of the Missouri, were attacked and 
distressed by the Indians of those parts who were bad peo- 
ple. That he was now poor, and much to be pitied ; that he 
was going to bring back his young men, having resolved to 
confine himself to the lower country. He concluded, by 
telling them that he intended to return in three months to 
establish a trading house at the Cedar island, and requested 
the chief to send word of it to all the Sioux bands. This 
story, together with a handsome present, produced the de- 
sired effect, though not without some reluctance. It is 
two days since Hunt passed here. 

Sunday 2d. . . . With much satisfaction perceived at a 
distance the boats of Mr. Hunt. ... It appears . . . that 
we have passed all the Sioux bands, who had been seen by 
Hunt, but probably finding his party too strong they had 
resolved to stop to plunder ours, that we must have passed 
them in the night, or under sail, as fhey did not expect to 
hear from us so soon. Overtook Mr. Hunt's party. [The 
trip of 1 132 miles had taken sixty-one days.] It was with 
real pleasure I took my friend Bradbury by the hand; I 
have reason to believe our meeting was much more cordial 
than that of the two commanders. Continued under sail in 
company the rest of the day, forming a handsome little 
fleet of five sail. . . . Encamped twelve hundred miles from 
the mouth of the Missouri. 

. . . The party of Mr. Hunt consists of about eighty men, 
chiefly Indians, the rest are American hunters. 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 293 

On June 26 the company reached the post of the com- 
pany, 1,640 miles from the mouth of the Missouri. After 
spending five weeks in conference with the Arkansas, Chi- 
enne and Mandan Indians, Mr. Brackenridge and Mr. Brad- 
bury set out on their return, in two boats, with six men in 
each. 

"My order was to go by day and night if possible, and not 
to stop for any Indians," Mr. Brackenridge wrote, "the 
water was extremely high, and with the assistance of six 
oars, we were able to make little short of twelve milesan 
hour." 

The voyage was without incident. A distance of one 
thousand miles was covered in eight or nine days, without 
meeting a single soul. Early in August the party arrived in 
St. Louis, having made "fourteen hundred and fifty miles in 
little better than fourteen days." 



III. EARLY STEAMBOATING ON THE MISSOURI 

Ay, this is freedom ! — these pure skies 

Were never stained with village smoke; 
The fragrant wind, that through them flies, 

Is breathed from wastes by plow unbroke. 
Here, with my rifle and my steed. 

And her who left the world for me, 
I plant me, where the red deer feed 

In the green desert — and am free. 

— William CuUen Bryant. 

The first steamboat appeared on the Missouri in 1819. 
This was the Independence, which ascended the stream about 
two hundred miles. The Western Engineer, a government 
boat, went as far as Council Bluffs the same year. Fifteen 
years passed before the Assiniboine reached a point about 
a hundred miles above the Yellowstone. In 1853 the 
El Paso ventured one hundred and twenty-five miles far- 
ther. In the spring of 1859 the American Fur Company's 
steamer Chippewa ascended to within fifteen miles of Fort 
Benton, a point 3,560 miles from the sea, and 2,565 feet 
above sea level. In i860 the same vessel reached Fort 
Benton itself, and in 1866 a steamer reached a point thirty- 
one miles above Fort Benton. 

William Cobbet, the English traveler, who published in 
1818 an account of his visit to the United States,* told of 
seeing at Wheeling, on the Ohio river, a steamboat destined 
for Missouri river transportation: 

The wheels are made to work in the stern of the boat, 
so as not to come in contact with the floating trees, snags, 
planters, trees tumbled headlong and fixed in the river, 
&c., obstructions most likely very numerous in that river. 

294 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 295 

But the placing of wheels behind only saves them; it is no 
protection against the boat's sinking in case of being pierced 
by a planter or sawyer (the same as a planter, only waving 
up and down). Observing this, I will suggest a plan which 
has occurred to me, and which, I think would effectually 
provide against sinking; but, at any rate, it is one which can 
be tried very easily and with very little expense. I would 
make a partition of strong plank ; put it in the broadest fore- 
part of the boat, right across, and put some good bolts under 
the bottom of the boat, through these planks, and screw 
them on the top of the deck. Then put an upright post in 
the inside of the boat against the middle of the plank parti- 
tion, and put a spar to the upright post. The partition should 
be water-tight. I would then load the forepart of the boat, 
thus partitioned off, with lumber or such loading as is least 
liable to injury and best calculated to stop the progress of 
the sawyer after it has gone through the boat. By thus ap- 
propriating the forepart of the boat to the reception of 
planters and sawyers it appears to me that the other part 
would be secured against all intrusion. 

John Lewis Peyton, who was passenger on a Missouri 
steamboat in 1848, gave a vivid picture of emigrants who 
crowded the boat.^ Among them were a number of Euro- 
peans who showed that they had not been long in the coun- 
try. 

The head of this party . . . wore a blue tail-coat, cov- 
ered with grease, without a single button and only a remnant 
of one tail. A pair of ancient cazinet trousers, in tatters at 
the feet, patched in the rudest manner on the knees ... an 
ancient leather waistcoat and an apology for a pair of boots. 
Scarcely any of the men, women or children in this party 
were better dressed, but they had been supplied in New 
York and St. Louis with a few agricultural implements and 
carpenters' tools and expected before winter to build them- 
selves comfortable timber houses and to get a considerable 
body of land prepared for a spring crop. Fortunately they 
were to join a party of their countrymen who had preceded 
them by two years and were prospering in their new home. 



296 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

. . . A half dozen raw-boned Kentuckians, with iron con- 
stitutions and nen^es apparently of whip cord, their wives 
and children, were also emigrating. 

The records of the steamboat men during the early years 
of the steamboats, especially those that ascended to the 
upper Missouri, are full of incidents of peril and danger. 
In 1847 Captain Joseph La Barge of the steamer Martha 
had an exciting experience with Indians who were displeased 
because a company of government agents on board had not 
dealt with them to their satisfaction. While the boat was 
tied up at the bank, the captain said to H. M. Chittenden,^ in 
telling of the incident, there was a sudden volley of fire- 
arms and the sound of splintered glass. This was instantly 
followed by an Indian yell and a rush for the boat. The 
Indians got full possession of the forward part of the boat 
and flooded the boiler grate with water, putting out the 
fires. 

The captain learned that the Indians wished him to give 
up the boat to them. They promised to spare all on board 
if he would do as they wished, but declared that if he re- 
sisted them they would put all hands to death. 

After the first rush the Indians seemed timorous. But 
Captain La Barge had no thought of yielding. In some way 
he would save the lives of those in charge. As the Indians 
overran the boat he thought quickly, but no plan of action 
occurred to him until the Indians began to hesitate, as if 
afraid to go further in surroundings so strange to them. 
The captain said, in telling the story: 

This gave me time for effective measures. I had on board 

a light cannon of about 25^ inch caliber, mounted on four 
wheels. Unluckily it was at this time down in the engine 
room undergoing some repairs to the carriage. I had in my 
employ a man on whom I could absolutely rely — a brave 
and noble fellow, Natlian Grismore, the first engineer. 
Grismore had just finished the work on the cannon, and 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 297 

told me he thought he could get it up the back way, since 
the fore part of the boat was in possession of the Indians. 
He got some men in line and soon hoisted the gun on deck 
and hauled it into the after part of the cabin. I always kept 
in tlie cabin some powder and shot for use in hunting. I 
got the powder, but the supply of shot was gone. Grismore 
promptly made up the loss with boiler rivets and the gun 
was heavily loaded and primed, ready for action. By this 
time the forward part of the cabin was crowded with In- 
dians, who were evidently afraid something was going to 
happen. I lost no time in verifying their fears. As soon 
as the gun was loaded I lighted a cigar, and holding the 
smoking stump in sight of the Indians, told Campbell to tell 
them to get off the boat or I would blow them all to the 
devil. At the same time I started for the gun with the 
lighted cigar in my hand. The effect was complete and in- 
stantaneous. The Indians turned and fled and fairly fell 
over each other in their panic to get off the boat. In less 
time than it takes to tell it, not an Indian was in sight. I 
had the cannon brought to the roof, where it remained for 
an hour or more. 

The war with IMexico, the discovery of gold in Califor- 
nia, the Mormon emigration from Missouri to Utah, the 
expeditions to survey for the railroads and to carry supplies 
for them, and the discovery of gold in Idaho and Montana, 
were the causes of a continued boom in Missouri river trans- 
portation for a period of thirty years from 1846. During 
the early years of this period the bulk of the traffic was 
confined to the lower river, but during the later years the 
upper river shared in the prosperity. 

The peculiar situation of the lower IMissouri with ref- 
erence to other great arteries of exploration and emigration 
is the explanation of the busy years that followed 1846. 

Viewed from the standpoint of transportation, the West- 
em Country in that day can be likened to a fan.'^ The handle 
was that part which extended from St. CSms to the mouth- 
of the Kansas River. Thence the various routes to all parts 



298 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

of the country diverged along the arms of the fan, which 
was outspread from Santa Fe on the South to Fort Union 
on the North. Most of the business below the point of 
divergence was done by steamboat. Vessels in large num- 
bers plied the river over the first five hundred miles, and 
the amount of freight and passenger traffic carried by them 
was great. Boats departed daily from St. Louis, carrying 
an almost inconceivable variety of articles for use of the 
emigrants, and nearly as large a variety of the emigrants 
themselves. To one who witnessed this business in the 
noontide of its activity, it would have seemed scarcely pos- 
sible that another generation should witness its total ex- 
tinction. 



Emigrants w^ere carried from St. Louis to Independence 
and Council Bluffs, and other new posts, and from there 
made their way overland. In 1852 the Saluda, heavily 
laden with Mormon emigrants and their goods, was delayed 
by highwater in rounding a point near Lexington, Missouri. 
After several days the captain asked for more steam. 
"We'll do it, if the boat is blown to pieces," he said. The 
extra pressure of steam was given to him — and almost at 
once the boiler exploded and more than two hundred lives 
were lost. 

A few days later an emigrant passed up the river. In his 
diary he said : 

We get a little scared sometimes, for w^e hear of so many 
boats blown up. There was another boat blown up at 
Lexington last Saturday, and killed a hundred and fifty 
persons, the most of which were emigrants for California 
and Oregon. These things make us feel pretty squally, I 
can assure you, but it is not the way to be scared before- 
hand. So we boost our spirits up and push on. . . . Got 
to Lexington at 12 o'clock. There we found the wreck of 
the boat that blew up five days ago. There were about 200 
people aboard, and, the nearest we could learn, about forty 
persons were wounded and the balance were killed. 



TOILING UP THE J^HSSOURI 299 

In 1858 the demands of travel, most of them due to the 
emigrants, were so great that there were fifty-nine steam- 
boats on the lower river. There were three hundred and 
six arrivals at Leavenworth, Kansas. The freight receipts 
at Leavenworth that year amounted to $166,941.35. In 
1859, Chittenden says, more steamboats left St. Louis for 
the IMissouri than for both the upper and lower Mississippi. 

In 1865 one thousand passengers went as far as Fort 
Benton. One of them was Judge Lyman E. Munson, who 
was commissioned by President Lincoln as one of three 
United States judges of the Supreme Court of Montana. 
The territory was then filling up rapidly because of the gold 
discoveries there. Fortunately Judge Munson wrote an 
account of his journey by river. He made these interesting 
observations :^ 

I could gain but little information by correspondence or 
inquiry, as to the condition of affairs in the Territory — 
w^here I should be located when there or the best way to go. 
Deciding upon the river route, I shipped by library to St. 
Louis, taking a steamer there for Fort Benton, the head of 
steamboat navigation, three thousand miles distant by river 
from St. Louis, and it took over fifty days to complete the 
trip, yet our steamer was the crack boat on the river that 
season. 

Passing Yankton, in the lower part of Dakota, one thou- 
sand one hundred and eighty miles by river above St. Louis, 
we entered a country filled with hostile Indians. Military 
forts and stockades were besieged by the redskins, and com- 
manders of the forts tried to impress upon the captain of 
our boat the perils of the trip, and it required no stretch of 
imagination to guard against possible adverse experience on 
the way. 

Fort Rice, one thousand eight hundred miles above St. 
Louis by the river, had been surrounded by them for days, it 
not being safe for even picket men to venture outside the 
enclosure. Mooring our boats to the shore, Indians inter- 
preted our arrival as reenforcements for the fort, and they 
left. Colonel Reeves, commandant of the fort, showed us a 



300 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

poisoned arrow taken from the body of one of his soldiers 
who had died that day in great agony from its effects. 

The pilot house of our boat was sheathed with boiler 
iron, with peep-holes to look out for safe navigation, and 
other precautions taken for safety. There was no security 
in traveling through the Indian country at that date, except 
in large, well-armed parties, and even then trains were fre- 
quently stampeded by the bold dash and dreaded war-whoop 
of the Indians who swept down like an evil spirit of the wind 
to help themselves to the scalps of drivers and to plunder 
from the trains. Many of this day remember how fre- 
quently the coaches on the overland route were attacked by 
the Indians, and how startlingly graphic were the scenes 
described by those who escaped the peril. 

At night our boat was anchored with sentinels on guard 
to prevent surprise or attack. 

On our way up the river we encountered vast herds of 
buffaloes moving from southern to northern feeding 
grounds. The plains, at times, on either side of the river, 
were literally covered with them as far as the eye could 
reach. They came to the river bank and plunged into the 
sweeping floods regardless of fear and swam to the opposite 
shore like veterans in their native element. 

The river was full of them ; so full that we were obliged 
on different days to stop the steamer to avoid being swampevl 
by them. On one occasion a stalwart fellow became en* 
tangled in the wheel of the steamer, and in his efforts for 
release, ripped out some of the buckets of the wheel, 
necessitating repairs. Some fat heifers and calves were 
lassoed from the river and killed for fresh meat for boat 
supplies. . . . 

In the timber that fringed the river bank, otter, beaver, 
mink and muskrat splashed into the water on our approach. 
Lagoons and lakelets are alive with water fowl that sported 
in security, apparently tame in their wildness. . . . 

At Wolf Point, so called on account of the banks of the 
river, some wood-choppers had built a stockade to divide 
their time in cutting wood for the steamer, and trapping for 
furs. They killed a buffalo, cut out what meat they wanted 
to use, and poisoned the carcass for the wolves The first 



TOILING UP THE MISSOURI 301 

night seventy-two wolves came to grief. This was the 
largest w'oif -gathering I ever saw. They had come in from 
prairie, ravine and timber nooks for a feast, and they lay 
around the stockade on our arrival at mid-day following 
their adventure. . . . The captain of our boat made ar- 
rangements with the stockade adventurers fo/ the purchase 
of the pelts on his return. 

About one hundred miles below Benton, our boat 
grounded. On board as passenger was Major Upson, In- 
dian agent at Benton, returning with annuity goods for dis- 
tribution among the Indians connected with the agency. 
Some Indians came to the river bank who knew the major. 
He told them what he had on board, . . . and gave one a 
letter to deliver with utmost speed to the agency at Benton. 
After a square meal for the start, and a sandwich for the 
way, the Indian started, leaving his three companions on 
the boat as hostages to await his return. In two days he re- 
turned. Three days later teams appeared ; the boat, light- 
ened of freight, again steamed up the river. . . . 

After some delay at Benton we started with mule trains 
and a prairie schooner for Helena, one hundred and forty 
miles distant. The trail was sufficiently marked to follow. 
We usually encamped for the night about mid-afternoon, 
near a spring or water course. Wagons were drawn up in 
a circle, horses tethered out for grazing. 

At night horses were brought into the enclosed circle for 
safety, passengers spread their blankets on the ground under 
the watrons, trusty sentinels kept watch . . . while the music 
of howling wolves contributed to wakeful hours of nen^ous 
sleepers. On Sunday, June 9, 1865, we arrived at Helena, 
then called Last Chance Gulch. 

One of the strangest events in Missouri river history 
occurred in July, 1867, when the steamer Trover was 
wrecked when some two hundred and forty miles below 
Fort Benton. Fortunately the Ida Sfockdale was near, and 
the passengers were taken off — all except two boys who were 
asleep in the hold.* 

On waking up and finding themselves alone, without a 
thing to eat or any means of defense, and surrounded by 



302 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

a wilderness wholly unknown to them, they were com- 
pletely paralyzed by fright; but, recovering their presence 
of mind they saw that they must find some relief imme- 
diately or they would die of starvation. They left the wreck 
and started down the river. In crossing a small tributary of 
the Missouri one of the boys was drowned. The other kept 
on night and day, most of the time back from the river, to 
avoid the bends and the swamp and underbrush. He had 
nothing to eat except a little bark and some flower blossoms 
and did not stop for a moment for sleep. His keeping back 
from the river caused him to miss the boats and trading 
posts. Finally, almost famished and exhausted, he beat his 
way through a dense willow growth to the bank of the river 
in the hope that some boat would come along before he 
should die. Shortly afterward a steamer hove in sight — 
the Sunset — on her way up the river. She was a veritable 
sunn.y^ to the poor boy, who began waving an old white hat, 
almost the only article of clothing he had left. The people 
on the boat saw the signal and sent the yawl out and brought 
the boy in. His face was almost raw from mosquitO' bites, 
and he was so weak that he could scarcely stand. He was 
found at a point twenty-five miles below Fort Rice, or 
642 miles, by river channel, below where the Trover was 
wrecked. He traveled this distance in nine days. With all 
the cut-offs duly allowed for, he must have averaged seventy 
miles a day during this time, and all the while without food. 
Were it not that the facts seem well established, such an 
example of physical endurance would be incredible. 

Steamboat traffic on the upper Missouri was at its height 
in 1867. Before June i of that year forty steamers passed 
Sioux City on their way up the river. The fare for cabin 
passengers from St. Louis to Fort Benton was $300. 

The strange contrasts presented to the eyes of those who 
took passage on the boats at this period have been described 
by Chittenden : 

There were times when thirty or forty steamboats were 
on the river between Fort Benton and the mouth of the 
Yellowstone, when all the way the river flowed amid scenes 



TOLLING UP THE MISSOURI 303 

of wilderness that were in the strictest sense primeval To 
one who could have set down in the unbroken wilderness 
along the banks of the river, where nothing dwelt except 
wild animals and wilder men, where the fierce Indian made 
life a constant peril, where no civilized habitation greeted 
the eye, it would have seemed marvelous and wholly in- 
explicable to find the river filled with noble craft, as beauti- 
ful as any that ever rode the ocean, stored with all the 
necessaries of civilization, and crowded with passengers as 
cultured, refined, and well dressed as the cabin list of an 
ocean steamer. 

But with the extension of the railroads to the country 
through which Lewis and Clark and their successors for two 
generations toiled for weary weeks and months, the Mis- 
souri river was forsaken by the steamboats and was left 
to the mercy of the encroaching sand bars, the crumbling 
banks and the snags and savv'yers that had vexed the soul 
of thousands of pioneers. Other trails of the Pioneers are 
still in use. The Wilderness Road is a highway in which 
tourists delight ; the National Road and the roads from 
Philadelphia to Pittsburg give joy to the automobile tour- 
ists; the Ohio river is still a highway on which a few 
steamers float ; the Genesee Road and the Erie Canal are yet 
on the map; sections of the Santa Fe Trail, the California 
Trail and the Oregon Trail are taken account of by the 
western road traveler. The Missouri alone is utterly neg-\ 
lected and forsaken. On June 13, 1902, Congress abol- 
ished the Missouri Commission, and so wrote the epitaph 
of this great commercial highway of the West. 

NOTES TO CHAPTER VIII 
(See Bibliography) 

1. "History of the Expedition to the Sources of the Missouri River," 

Vol. I, p. 4- 

2. "History of the Steamboat Navigation of the Missouri River," p. 

102. 

3. "Views of Louisiana, Together with a Journal of a Voyage Up 

the Missouri River," p. 200. 



304 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

4. "A Year's Residence in the United States of America," Part III, 

p. 359. 

5. "Over the Alleghenies and Across the Prairies, p. 260. 

6. "Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River," p. 180. 

7. Ditto, p. 174- 

8. "Reminiscences of a Montana Judge," p. 100. 

9. "Early Steamboat Navigation on the Missouri River," p. 385. 



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A. Garfield. Old South Leaflets, No. 42. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 309 

Notes on a Journey in America from the Coast of Virginia to 
the Territory of Illinois. By Morris Birkbeck. Caleb Rich- 
ardson, Philadelphia, 1817. 

Ohio and Her Western Reserve. By Alfred Matthews. D. Ap- 
pleton Co., New York, 1902. 

Ohio as a Hospitable Wilderness. By J. H. Kennedy. Magazine 
of American History, Vol. XVI, December, 1886. 

Old Santa Fe Trail, The. By Colonel Henry Inman. The Mac- , 
millan Company, New York, 1897. 

Oregon: The Struggle for Possession. By William Barrows. 
Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston, 1888. 

Oregon Trail, The. By F, G. Young. Oregon Historical Society 
Quarterly, December, 1900. 

Ornithological Biography, An. By John J, Audubon. Edinburgh, 

1831. 
Over the Alleghenies and Across the Prairies. By John Lewis 

Peyton. London, 1870. 
Personal Recollections of Early Days in Kent County (Michi- 
gan). Michigan Historical Collection, Vol. XXXIX. 
Pioneer Biography. By James McBride. Robert Clark and Co., 

Cincinnati, 1869. 
Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York. 

By O. Turner. Buffalo, 1847. 
Pioneers and Durham Boats on Fox River. By John Wallace 

Arndt. Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings, 1912. 
Pioneers of the Western Reserve. By Harvey Rice. Lee and 

Shepherd, Boston, 1883. 
Real Stories from Our History, By John T. Paris. Ginn & Co., 

Boston, 1916. 
Recollections of an Old Pioneer. By Peter H. Burnett. Oregon 

Historical Society Quarterly, March, 1904. 
Reminiscences of a Montana Judge. Journal of American His- 
tory, Vol. I, 1907. 
Reminiscences of William M. Case. By H. S. Lyman. Oregon 

Historical Society Quarterly, September, 1900. 
Reminiscences of Plugh Cosgrove. By H. S. Lyman. Oregon 

Historical Society Quarterly, September, 1900. 
Report of a Select Committee of the New York Legislature to 

Examine into Frauds on Emigrants, 1847. 
Retrospect of Western Travel. By Harriet Martineau. London, 

1838. 
Ride Over the Rocky Mountains to Oregon and California. By 

Henry J. Coke. London, 1852. 
River of the West, The. By Mrs. F. F. Victor. R. W. Bliss and 

Co., Hartford and Toledo, 1870. 



310 ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEERS 

Settlement of Clinton County (Michigan). By Mrs. Harriet 
Munro Longjear. Michigan Historical Society Collection, 
Vol. XXXIX. 

Sketch of a Tour of the Western Country. By F. Cuming. Pitts- 
burgh, 1810. 

Some Pioneer Experiences in Jefferson County (Wisconsin). By 
Elizabeth G. Fifield. Wisconsin Historical Society Proceed- 
ings, 1904. 

Story of the Great Lakes. By Channing and Lansing. The Mac- 
millan Company, New York, 1909. 

Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North 
America. By George Imlay. London, 1793. 

Tour of the L^nited States of America. By G. F. D. Smyth, Esq. 
London, 1789. 

Trail of Lewis and Clark, 1804. By Olin D. Wheeler. George 
P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1904, 

Travels in North America: 1827 and 1828. By Captain Basil 
Hall. Philadelphia, 1829. 

Travels in the American Colonies, 1690-1783. By Newton D. 
Mereness. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1916. 

Travels in the Great Western Prairie (Pamphlet). By Thomas 
J, Farnham. New York, 1843. 

Travels on an Inland Voyage. By Christian Schultz, Jr. Isaac 
Kelly, New York, 1810. 

Travels Through the Western Country. By David Thomas. Al- 
bany, 181 9. 

Travels to the West of the Allegheny Mountains, in Ohio, Ken- 
tucky, and Tennessee, in 1802-3. By F. A. Michaux. Lon- 
don, 1805. 

Two Years' Residence in the Settlement on the English Prairie 
in the Illinois Country of the United States. By John Woods. 
London, 1822. 

Views of Louisiana, Together with a Journal of a Voyage up the 
Missouri River Performed in 181 1. By H. M. Brackenridge. 
Pittsburgh, 1814. 

Wagon Journey from Ohio to Wisconsin in 1846, A. By Sarah 
Foote. Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings, 191 1. 

Washington County and the Early Settlements of Ohio (Pam- 
phlet). By Israel Ward Andrews. Peter G. Thomson, Cin- 
cinnati, 1877. 

Westward March of Emigration in the United States, The (Pam- 
phlet). Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1874. 

Westward Movement, The. By Justin Winsor. Houghton, Mifflin 
Company, Boston, 1897. 

What I Saw in California. By Edwin Bryant, New York, 1848. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 311 

Wilderness Road, The. By Thomas Speed. (Filson Club Pub- 
lication, Louisville.) 

Wilson, Alexander. The Poems and Literary Prose of. By 
Alexander B. Grosart. Paisley, 1876. 

Winning of the West. By Theodore Roosevelt. George P. Put- 
nam's Sons, New York. 

Winning the Oregon Country. By John T. Paris. Missionary 
Education IMovement. New York, 191 1. 

Year's Residence in the United States of America, A. By Wil- 
liam Cobbett. Belfast, 1813. 



INDEX 



! Adventures on the Ohio river, 102 

; Albany, New York, 144, 147 
Alleghenies, Crossing the, 60 ff, 

88 
American Fur Company, 209, 294 
Apple Pies on the plains, 266 

, Applegate, Jesse, on Oregon Trail, 

I 224 

I "Appleseed, Johnny," 164 

I Arkansas Indians, 293 

I Arkansas river, 184, 186 

! Asheville, North Carolina, 262 

I Astor, John Jacob, 205 

j Audubon, John J., on Ohio river, 
119 

Baltimore, JZ 

Badger, Rev. Joseph, up a tree, 

163 
Bailj', Francis, 114 
Batavia, New York, 146 
Bear fight in Missouri, 289 
Bear hunt, Trabue's adventures 

on a, 43 
Bear river, 243, 251 
Bedford, Pennsylvania, 58 
Benton, Fort, 294, 299, 301, 302 
Benton, Thomas H., 185, 246 
Biddle, Nicholas, 276 
Birkbeck, Morris, on Forbes Road, 

Birkbeck, William, 124, 126 
Block House, Kentucky, 30 
Boise, Fort, 206, 213, 214 
Boone, Daniel, first expedition to 
Kentucky, 17; in Tennessee, 17; 
autobiography of quoted, 18; 
second visit to Kentucky, 20; 
Commissioned to open Wilder- 
ness Road, 21; captured, 24; 
escape, 25; life after leaving 
Kentucky, 26; settlement in 
Missouri, 286 
Boone's Lick, Missouri, 185 
Boonesborough, Kentucky, 22, 24 



Brackenridge, H. M., on Missouri 

river, 283 
Braddock, General, 17, 58 
Braddock's Road, 51, 54 
British forts to the North of Ohio 

river, 24 
Brown, Jacob, 19, 20 
Brown, John Evans, on way to 

California, 262 
Brown, William, emigrant to Ken- 
tucky, 41 
Brownsville, Pennsylvania, 51, 56 
Bryant, Edwin, on Santa Fe trail, 

197 
Bryant, Edward, with Donner 

party, 254 
Bryant, William CuUen, quoted, 

137, 294 
Buffalo, 21, 196, 210, 222, 226, 227, 

237, 286, 290, 300 
Buffalo skin canoes, 290 
Burlington, Vermont, 169 
Burnett, Peter H., on Oregon 

Trail, 221 
Burton, Richard, quoted, 181 
Butler, Laurence, on Forbes Road, 

60 

Cabin in Holland Purchase de- 
scribed, 145 
California, 188, 219, 251 
Calk, William, emigrates to Ken- 
tucky, 38 
Camping by the way, 76, 80, 81, 

84 
Campus Martins, The, 106 
Canandaigua, New York, 145 
Caravan, organization of, 231 
Carleton, Will, quoted, 163 
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 58 
Carson, Kit, 242 
Cartwright, Rev. Peter, 34 
Case, William M., on way to Ore- 
gon, 226 
Cayuse Indians, 213 



313 



314 



INDEX 



Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 88 
Chapman, Jonathan ("Johnny Ap- 

pleseed"), 164 
Charles II and the Claims of 

Connecticut, 140 
Cherokee Indians, 16, 17, 20 
Chicago, 167, 169 
Chienne (Cheyenne) Indians, 293 
Chittenden, H. M., 296 
Cholera among the emigrants to 

California, 269 
Chouteau's Landing, Missouri, 218 
Churches on Wilderness Road, 35 
Cincinnati, Ohio, 75, 106, 115, 118, 

124, 126, 133, 135 
Cist, Lewis C, quoted, 262 
Clark, Captain William, 275 
Clark, George Rogers, 23, 26, 99 
Clark, Lewis and, explorers, 205, 

226, 275, 303 
Cleaveland, Moses, leads company 

from New England to Ohio, 148 
Cleveland, Ohio, founded, 150 
Cobbett, William, 54, 81, 125, 294 
Coke, Henry J., adventures on 

Oregon Trail, 238 
Columbia river, 205, 212, 219, 238, 

245 
Comanche Indians, 185 
Conant, A. H., pioneer diary of, 

168 
Conestoga Road, 58 
Connecticut Claims, 140, 143 
Connecticut Land Company, 143 
Connecticut, New, 69 
Corduroy road described, 146 
Cosgrove, Hugh, on Oregon Trail, 

236 
Council Bluflfs, Iowa, 240, 294, 298 
Council Grove, Kansas, 193 
Crab Orchard, Kentucky, 31, 35, 

Craig, Nicholas, in Oregon, 216 
Cumberland, Fort, 51 
Cumberland Gap, 17, 20, 38, 43, 45 
Cumberland, Maryland, 53 
Cumberland river, 28, 129 
Cumberland Road, 53, 54 
Cushutunk, settlement of, 141 
Cutler, Ephraim, on the way to 
Ohio, no 

Dalles, The, 245 

Danvers, Massachusetts, 105 

Delaware Company, 141 



Delaware Indians, 142 

Denman, Matthias, 107 

DeSmet, Father, 206 

Detroit, 24, 25, 149, 165, 166, 169 

DeWees, Mrs. Mary, on Forbes 
Road, 62 ; on Ohio river, 103 

DeWees, W. B., journey from 

Nashville to the Ohio river, 129 

Doane, Timothy's family's trip to 
Ohio, 152 

Donelson, Colonel, leads river 
party to Nashville, 28 

Donner, Eliza, 252 

Donner Lake, California, 261 

Donner, Mrs. George, letter to 
lUinois, 256 

Donner party organized, 252; 
wagons described, 253, 254 ; gov- 
ernment of, 255 ; crossing the 
Big Blue, 25s ; on Hastings Cut- 
off, 257; in the desert, 258; over- 
taken by snow, 259; fate of, 
261 

Drake, Samuel Adams, S3 

Drivers, skilful, 81 

Dunleith (Galena), Illinois, 178 

Du Buy, Bartholomew, on Ohio 
river, loi 

Du Quesne, Fort, 17, 59 

Durham boats on Wisconsin river, 
170 

Dwight, Margaret, Crossing the 
Alleghenies, 69 

Dwight, President, on Genesee 
Road, 146 

Earthquake of 181 1, 120, 135 
Edinburgh Review, quoted on 

Oregon, 214 
Edwards County, Illinois, 124 
Elk Horn river, 241 
Emigration, magnitude of, 29, 74, 

79, 82, 84, 89, 91, 92, 109, 116, 

176, 237, 246, 29s 
English Prairie, Illinois, 124, 126, 

127 
English Station, Kentucky, 36 
Erie Canal, the, 154, 156, 158, 161 
Erie, Lake, 105, 143, 148 
Espy, Joseph, on the Ohio river, 

"5 
Estes, Dr., describes trip on Erie 

Canal, 158 
Expense of trip from Connecticut 

to Marietta, Ohio, 110 



INDEX 



315 



Falls of the Ohio, 22, loi, 108, 
116 

Family worship at an Indian fire- 
side in Oregon, 216 

Farnham, Thomas J., 189, 214, 251 

Faux, W., on National Road, 55 

Fearon, Henry Bradshaw, on 
Forbes Road, 79 

Fifield, Elbridge E., on way from 
Vermont to Wisconsin, 169 

Filson, John, 27, 61, 100 

Finley, John, accompanies Daniel 
Boone to Kentucky, 17 

Fire destroys pioneer's posses- 
sions, 174 

"Fire Lands," the, 143 

Flatboat described, 97 

Flathead Indians, 212 

Flint, James, on road to Pitts- 
burg, 82 

Fort Hall Emigrant Road, 257 

Foote, Sarah, diary of on way to 
Wisconsin, 172 

Forbes, General, 58 

Forbes Road, stations on, 59; im- 
migrants on, 60 

Fordham, Elias Pym, on the Ohio 
river, 123 

Forman, Ezekiel, on the Ohio 
river, 112 

Forty Fort, defense of, 142 

Fourth of July, on Oregon Trail, 
210 

France at Fort Du Quesne, 59 

Franklin, Benjamin, 19 

Franklin, Missouri, 187, 188 

Fur Company of St. Louis, 219 

Furniture cast out by emigrants 
on Oregon Trail, 234 

Gallatin, Albert, 53 

Gasconade river, 288 

Genesee Country, New York, 143 

Genesee Road authorized, 145 

Geneva, New York, 145 

Girdled Road to Cleveland, 150 

Glade Road, 58, 59 

Grave, on road to Oregon, 232; 

on road to California, 255 
Gray, W. H., on Oregon Trail, 

209 
Great Salt Lake, 256 
Great Western Turnpike, 146 
Green river, 219, 243 
Greenville, Kentucky, 19 



Hall, Baynard Rush, 86 

Hall, Captain Basil, on Erie Canal, 
158 

Hall, Fort, 206, 213, 216, 222, 224, 
242, 243, 251 

Hall, Judge, quoted, 89; on the 
Ohio river, 128 

Haraszthy, Count Agoston, 173 

Harmar, Fort, 106 

Harrison, William Henry, 107, 226 

Harrodsburg, Kentucky, 23 

Hartford, Connecticut, 106 

Hastings Cut-off, Donner party's 
adventures on, 257 

Hastings, Lansford W., 257 

Helena, Montana, 301 

Henderson, Colonel Richard, 20, 
24 

Henderson, Kentucky, 118, 119 

Henry, Patrick, 23 

Hervey, Daniel, on Forbes Road, 
64, 66 

Hervey, Sarah, on Forbes Road, 64 

Holland Purchase, the, 143, 145 

Holston river, 19 

Hough, Joseph, on Ohio river, 117 

Houses of pioneers, 66, 78 

Hubbell, Captain William's ad- 
venture with Indians, 114 

Hudson Bay Company, 209, 212, 
224 

Humboldt river, 251, 270 

Hunt, Wilson Price, and the Ore- 
gon Trail, 205 

Hunt party, chased and overtaken 
by Lisa and Brackenridge, 292 

Hunters on the Missouri river, 
289 

Hurricane on the Ohio, 127 

Idaho, 207 

Imlay, George, 29, 68 
Independence, Fort (Ohio), 149 
Independence, Missouri, 187, 188, 

218, 221, 226, 230, 262, 298 
Independence Rock, 270 
Indians : Iroquois, 16 ; Cherokees, 

16, 17, 20; Delawares, 142; Six 

Nations, 149; Comanches, 185; 

Pawnees, 195 ; Mandans, 205, 

207, 275, 280; Nez Perces, 207; 

Flathead, 212; Cayuse, 213; 

Sioux, 227, 276, 279, 291, 292; 

Pottawatomies, 281 ; Osage, 289 ; 

Arkansas, 293 



316 



INDEX 



Indians: Boone's and Finley's ad- 
ventures with, 17; attack 
Boonesborough, 24; capture 
Daniel Boone, 24; Trabue's ad- 
ventures with, 42, 43 ; adventure 
with, 103; attack emigrants, 113, 
114; sell lands to Delaware 
Company, 141 ; pioneer's adven- 
tures with, 163 ; attack Santa Fe 
caravans, 185 ; appeal for the 
Bible, 207; kill the Whitmans, 
239; troublesome to California 
party, 268; attack steamboat, 
296 

Indiana Territory, 116 

Inns, described, 69, 70, 84 

Iowa, settlement of, begun, 176 

Iroquois Indians, 16 

Iroquois trail, 143 

Jefferson, Thomas, 53 

Jennings, John, trip on the Ohio 

river, 97 
Jones, Charles A., quoted, 229 
Jones, David, on the Ohio river, 

99 
Jones, John Rice, on Forbes Road, 
61 

Kanawha river, 99 

Kansas river, 263, 276 

Kaye, John Krayshaw, quoted, 183 

Kearney, Fort, 245 

Keelboat described, 97, 112, 128, 

283 
Kennedy, J. H., describes journey 

on Genesee Road, 144 
Kentucky, 16, 17, 23, 32 
Kentucky flat boat, 100, 108, no 
Kentucky Gazette, quoted, 31 
Kentucky Historical Society, 27 

La Barge, Captain Joseph, 296 
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 51, 58, 86, 

116 
Lands, prices of : in Kentucky, 32 ; 

in Miami Settlement, 67 ; in 

Pennsylvania, 67; in Illinois, 76; 

in Ohio, yy ; near Wheeling, 99 
Lapwai, Idaho, 213 
Laramie, Fort, 209, 241, 256, 264, 

269 
Larcom, Lucy, quoted, 138 
Latrobe, B. H., on National Road, 

71 



Leavenworth, Kansas, 299 

Lee, Daniel, on way to Oregon, 

207 
Lee, Jason, missionary to Oregon, 

207 
Lewis and Clark, 205, 226, 275, 

286, 303 
Lewis, Meriwether, Captain, 275 
Lewistown, New York, 149 
Lexington, Kentucky, in 1805, 116 
Lexington, Missouri, 298 
Licking river, Ohio, 106 
Ligonier, Fort, 58 
Limestone, Kentucky, 103 
Lincoln Highway, 27 
Lisa, Manuel, 283 
Little Missouri river, 280 
Logan, Richard, 22 
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 

quoted, 203 
Louisville, Kentucky, 18, 99, 113, 

118, 135 
Losantiville, Ohio (Cincinnati), 

Curious derivation of name, 106 
Loupe Fork, Nebraska, 209 
Loveland, Amos, on Genesee Road, 

145 
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, 141 

McConnelstown, Pennsylvania, 73, 

83 
Mackay, Charles, quoted, 15, 273 
McKay, James, on the Columbia, 

238 
McKee's Island, Pittsburg, 103 
Madison, Indiana, 75 
Mandan, Fort, 280 
Mandan Indians, 205, 275, 280, 

293 
Marietta, Ohio, 105, 106, no, in 
Marshall, John, discoverer of gold 

in California, 227 
Martin, Joseph, 16 
Martineau, Miss Harriet: on Erie 

Canal 160; on Great Western 

Turnpike, 146 
Matthews, Lois Kimball, quoted, 

156 
May, Colonel John, 6y, 107 
Mayiioiver, barge for pilgrims to 

Ohio, 106 
Maysville, Kentucky, in 
Meek, Joseph, on National Road, 

56; on Oregon Trail, 216 
Memphis, Tennessee, 118 



INDEX 



317 



Miami Settlement, dy 
Michaux, F. A., 68 
Michigan's boom begins, 157 
Miller, Joaquin, quoted, 249, 275 
Minnesota admitted as a state, 178 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 173 
Mississippi river, 98, 129 
Missouri Fur Company, 283 
Missouri river : crookedness of, 

278; escape in crossing the, 245; 

navigation, causes of boom in, 

297; navigation hindered by 

trees, 287; neglect of, 303 
Mohawk, New York, 147 
Mormons, feared by traders to 

Santa Fe, 198; on Oregon Trail, 

242 
Moses, Why General Cleaveland 

was called, 150 
Munson, Judge Lyman E., 299 
Munro, Jesse, journey of, from 

Buffalo to Michigan, 165 
Muskingum river, Ohio, 105, 106, 

108, III 

Nashborough (Nashville), Ten- 
nessee, founded, 28 
Nashville, Tennessee, 129 
Natchez, Mississippi, 112, 118, 129, 

135 
National Road, 53, 54, 86 
"Navigator," the Pittsburg, 122, 

123 
Naylor, James Ball, quoted, 79 
Nebraska river, 256 
New Madrid, Missouri, 118, 121, 

135 

New Orleans, "]•], 115, 136, 269 
New Orleans, first Ohio river 

steamboat, 135 
Nez Perces Indians, 207, 211 
Niagara, New York, 147, 148, 149 
Niles, Michigan, 167 
Nolichucky river, 19, 20 
North Mountain, road building on, 

65 
North Carolina, 19 
Nuttall, Thomas, 86, 127 

Ohio, advantages of, over other 

states, 150, 151 
Ohio becomes a state, 150 
Ohio Company, 23, 105 
Ohio river, 68, 97, 114 
Omaha, Nebraska, 227 



Ontario, Lake, 148 

Oregon Country dedicated to God, 

210 
Oregon, how territory was won, 

246 
Oregon Trail, 205, 220, 251 
Orleans boats, 123 ', 

Osage, Fort, 289 ! 

Osage Indians, 289 
Oswego, New York, 147, 148, 

149 
Overland Trail, route of, 251 

Pacific Fur Company, 205 

Packsaddle described, 29, 30, 219 

Panama, Isthmus of, 268 

Parkman, Francis, quoted, 59, 229 

Paulding, John Kirke, quoted, 49 

Pawnee Indians, 195 

Peabody, Ephraim, quoted, 58 

Penn, William, 141 

Pennamite Wars, 142 

Pennsylvania, Connecticut's Claims 
to part of, 141 

Pennsylvania, Fort, 142 

Pennsylvania State Road, 59 

Peyton, John Lewis, 295 

Philadelphia, 77 

Pirogue on Missouri river, 275 

Pitt, Fort, 99 

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 61, 75, 
86, 97, 100, 115, 125, 128, 148. . 

Platte, Fort, 227 ' 

Platte river, 221, 222, 233, 234, 24©, 
277, 290 

Polk, James K., 56 

Pottawatomie Indians, 288 

Powell's Valley, 16 

Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, i;^ 

Prairie Village (Waukesha), Wis- 
consin, 170 

Princeton, Indiana, 126 

Putnam, General Rufus, petitions 
Congress to give lands to Revo- 
lutionary soldiers, 105 

Quitman, John A., on the Ohio 
river, 128 

Read, Thomas Buchanan, quoted, 

95 
Red River Raft described, 130 
Redstone, Old Fort, Pennsylvania, 

51. 54. 69, 100, loi 



S18 



INDEX 



Reed, Virginia, with Donner party, 
252 

Reed, James F., with Donner 
party, 252 

Rice, Fort, 299 

Richland, Michigan, 165 

Robertson, Chief Justice, quoted, 
31 

Robertson, James, founds Nash- 
ville, 2S 

Rock Island, Illinois, 178 

Rome, New York, 147, 156 

Roosevelt, Nicholas J., and first 
steamboat on the Ohio river, 134 

Russell, James, goes to Ohio, 152 

Sacramento, California, 269 

Sacramento Valley, 251 

St. Charles, Missouri, 285 

St. Clair, General, Governor of 

Northwest Territory, 106, 150 
St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 
Santa Anna, President, and the 

Santa Fe traders, 187 
Santa Fe, Mexico, first American 

traders to, 183; growth of 

trade to, 187; traders to, camp 

described, 193, 198; mentioned, 

229 
St. Joseph, Michigan, 169 
St. Joseph, Missouri, 237, 239 
St. Joseph Trail, 231 
St. Louis, Missouri, 238, 239, 269, 

276, 298, 299 
Sandusky, Ohio, 149 
Sauk City, Wisconsin, 174 
Schenectady, New York, 144, 147 
Schultz, christian, Jr., on Great 

Western Turnpike, 147 
Schuyler, Fort, 145 
Scioto river, Ohio, 105 
Shawneetown, Illinois, 76, 78, 118 
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, 68 
Shreve, Captain, and the Red 

River Raft, 132 
Sierra Nevada mountains, 260, 270 
Sioux Indians, 227, 276, 279, 291, 

292 
Six Nations, treaty with, 149 
Smith, Sara L. P., quoted, 125 
Snake river, 212, 244 
Spalding, Dr. H. H.. 208. 238 
Spalding, Mrs. H. H., 208 
Spencer, Mrs. Caroline, describes 

trip' on Erie Canal, 160 



Springfield, Illinois, 252 

Stage, journey by, from Philadel- 
phia to Pittsburg, 87 

Stanwix, Fort, Treaty of, 1768, 16 

Starving on the Wilderness Road, 
36 ; on Oregon Trail, 245 ; on 
California Trail, 266 

Steamboat: at Natchez, 129; first, 
described, 133 ; first on Great 
Lakes, 153 ; first on Missouri 
river, 294; explosion of, 298 

Stone, Colonel William L., de- 
scribes trip on Erie Canal, 159 

Stoner, Michael, 20 - 

Stow Castle built, 149 

Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, 142 

Surveys of lands forbidden in 
1763, 16 

Susquehanna Company, 141 

Susquehanna river, 62 

Susquehanna, state of, organized, 

143 
Sutter's Fort, California, 259 
Sweetwater Valley, 270 
Sycamore Shoals, 20 
Symmes, John Cleve, 107 

Tallis's Chant repeated by Indians, 
216 

Taylor, Bayard, quoted, 236, 268 

Tennessee, Boone in, 17 

Tennessee river, 28, 129 

Texans attack Caravans to Santa 
Fe, 187 

Thomas, David, 126 

Thomas, Frederick W., quoted, 28, 
189 

Thurston, Mrs. Laura M., quoted, 
218 

Trabue, Daniel, diary of, quoted, 
42; on the Ohio, loi 

Trabue, Edward, 103 

Trabue, James, 42 

Transylvania, settlement of, 21 ; 
first government of, 22 ; admis- 
sion to Union opposed, 22 

Treaty of Fort Stanwix, 1768, 16; 
Virginia's treaty with Chero- 
kees, 1770, 17; Colonel Hender- 
son's treaty of 1775 with Chero- 
kees, 20; Moses Cleaveland's 
treaty with Red Jacket, 149 

Troy, New York, 169 

Truckee river, 251 

Truckee Pass, 251 




' 1 < '! 



1:#^' 



I 



I 



H. F. Mart;,!.,. D.l. 



"I . . . think I hear 
The sound of that advancing multitude 
Whicli soon shall fill these deserts. From the ground 
Comes up the laugh of children, the soft voice 
Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hymn 
Of Sabbath worshippers. The low of herds 
Blends with the rustling of the heavy grain 
Over the dark brown furrows. All at once 
A fresher wind sweeps by, and breaks my dream, 
And I am in the wilderness alone." 

— WilUam CulUn Bryant. 



INDEX 



319 



Trumball County, Ohio, created, 

150 
Tupper, Rufus, 105 

Umatilla river, 238 
Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 53 
tJtica, New York, 147, 156 

Van Dyke, Henry, quoted, 38 
Venable, William H., quoted, 153 
Vicksburg, Mississippi, 118 
.Virginia, 17 

Wabash river, TJ, 126 

Wagon of Marcus Whitman, 209, 
212, 214, 216 

Wagoner, bills of, 71 

.Waiilatpu, Oregon, 213, 216, 223, 

228 _ 
"Walk-in-the-Water, first steam- 
boat on Great Lakes, 153 

Walla Walla, Fort, 223 

Warren, Ohio, 150 

Warrior's Path, Kentucky, 21 

Washington, District of, 19 

Washington, George, 52, 57, 66 

Washington, Pennsylvania, 53, 75 

Washington's Bottoms, 66 

Washington, Whitman goes to, in 
behalf of Oregon, 223 

Washington State, 207 

Watson, Elkanah, 144 

Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 141 

Watauga Association, 19, 28 

Watauga river, 19, 20 

Weber Canon, 257 

.Wellington, Ohio, 172 



Western Reserve, origin of, 143 
Westport (Kansas City^, Mis- 
souri, 188, 218 
Wheelbarrow, going to California 

with a, 241 
Wheeling, Virginia, 53, 56, 97, 99, 

115, 294 
Whitman, Dr. Marcus, 208, 222, 
223, 224, 225, 238; Mrs. Marcus, 
208 
Whitman, Walt, quoted, 13, 197 
Whittier, John G., quoted, 283 
Wilderness Road, 22, 26, 27, 28, 33 
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 141 
Willamette river, 208 
Wills Creek Road, 51, 54 
Wilson, Alexander, on the Ohio 

river, 121 
Wisconsin made a state, 178 
Wisconsin river transportation, 

170 
Wislizenus, F. A., on Oregon 

Trail, 218 
Woods, John, length of his jour- 
ney from England to Illinois, 
127 
Wyoming, Pennsylvania, 142 

Yankton, Dakota, 299 
Yellowstone river, 280, 302 
Yadkin river. North Carolina, 20 
Yough, Forks of, 66 
Youghiogheny river, 51, 106 

Zane's Road opened, iii 
Zanesville, Ohio, 75 



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